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Belfast and Cork are joining forces on a rooftop solar heating project with money from the Irish government’s Shared Island Fund.

At a recent committee meeting at City Hall, councillors received an update on a new partnership between Belfast City Council and Cork City Council exploring the potential for solar PV on council buildings.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is a renewable energy technology that converts sunlight into electricity using thin sheets of semiconducting materials, such as silicon. When sunlight falls on the solar panel, the photovoltaic cells absorb the energy and release electrons which generate a flow of electricity.

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These panels can either be installed on rooftops or installed in large-scale solar power plants.

Belfast City Council, working with Cork City Council has secured Shared Island funding of €35,000 to undertake three pieces of work in the project.

This involves a solar PV assessment of 10 council buildings in Cork and Belfast, and a desk-based solar PV rooftop assessment across a number of Belfast City Council owned properties.

Thirdly there will be a study examining the potential for docklands regeneration in both cities focusing on innovation, tourism, culture, and heritage.

Five buildings in Belfast, and five buildings in Cork, are currently being assessed for use of the panels. Combined, the installation of panels on all of these buildings have been estimated to save as much as 1,255.9 tonnes CO2/KWh annually.

This would equate to approximately 7 percent of the Belfast Council’s estimated annual emissions.

A council report from the Climate and City Resilience Committee at City Hall states: “The use of solar PV is likely to be a key element of the decarbonisation of the city and the (council’s) progress to net zero by reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

“This project is likely to inform future plans in conjunction with the Belfast Local Area Energy Plan, Retrofit Programme and other key projects working towards net zero.

“The potential application of solar PV across Belfast City Council properties is a first step to inform at scale climate change policies and renewable energy strategies by Belfast City Council, particularly in response to the recent introduction of Northern Ireland’s formal Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 and the targets it sets for the region.”

The Dublin government department website describes the The Shared Island Civic Society Fund as “an initiative to promote practical North/South cooperation and engagement across a range of sectors and themes, consistent with the objectives and commitments of the Good Friday Agreement.”

It aims to “encourage and support civic society and community organisations to develop new cross-border links, to further strengthen existing partnerships, or to create or broaden cross-border connectivity on issues of concern for the island of Ireland."

This initiative will make €500,000 available in 2023 to organisations working on North South projects across a range of sectors.

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