Work has begun on a new 81MW solar farm near Carlow.
When completed, the Ørsted backed project will produce enough energy to power up to 29,000 homes.
The backers hope the farm will be operational from sometime in 2026 onwards.
The development will increase Ørsted's energy producing capacity to 500MW across the island of Ireland.
Located 15km from Carlow town, the Garreenleen Phase 1 solar farm was awarded a contract under the Government’s renewable electricity support scheme 3 auction in September of last year.
A further 82MW of capacity is planned and the necessary grid infrastructure will be put in place to handle that.
"2024 marks Ørsted’s biggest ever construction year with 1.5 GW of onshore renewables and 6.7 GW of offshore wind currently in construction across the globe," said TJ Hunter, Senior Director, Development & Operations in UK & Ireland at Ørsted.
"While Garreenleen is our first solar project to move to construction in Ireland, our strong solar pipeline currently stands at over 700 MW which gives us confidence that more will follow in line with the Irish Government's 8 GW solar energy target by 2030".
The solar farm includes the planting of over 1.2km of native hedgerows, the improvement of the environment along the river Burren which borders the site and the planting of 3 hectares of wildflowers.
