New Monart solar farm set to power entire Griffin Hotel Group, including Hotel Kilkenny

The Griffin Hotel Group, which includes Monart Destination Spa, Hotel Kilkenny and Ferrycarrig Hotel, are set to be powered by the brand-new 10-acre Monart Solar Farm.

Phase one of the solar farm has been completed and is now operational on the grounds of the adjacent multi-award-winning Monart Destination Spa in County Wexford.

Since 2014 the Griffin Hotel Group has been rolling out a long-term strategic sustainability plan under the direction of Kieran McCrea from Clevernet and Energy Consultant Specialist Ken Mc Elhinney who is now the group’s director of sustainability. 

Kieran McCrea from Clevernet has been assisting the group with the company's energy mapping and providing reliable real-time management data to understand the company's energy profile and where savings can be made.

"Kieran working with our sustainability director Ken has been a great asset to the company in providing external assistance on this project; gaining insight into the data has certainly helped shape our green investment priorities," says Michael Griffin, the CEO of Griffin Group.

The hotel group identified this development as part of their multi-phase carbon reduction and sustainability programme that is ongoing at the Griffin Hotel Group and they are delighted to now see phase one of the solar farm completed, which will offset the entire energy demand of Monart Destination Spa at peak.

In addition, the company has invested substantial capital in deploying building controls for heating and cooling with an aggressive efficiency replacement plan for plants, pumps, and lighting. Bio-mass boilers have also been installed along with combined heat and power (CHP) units and support for EV charging has been put in place. Real-time monitoring of energy is also in place in order to continuously measure and improve the sustainability and efficiency of providing services to hotel guests.

The director of sustainability on the board of Griffin Group, Ken McElhinney said: “It is a testament to the commitment of the Griffin Hotel Group that we see the first phase of the solar farm completed. This development will move the company in an inspiring way towards reaching its ambition of being a leader in the hospitality sector for real and tangible sustainability results.”

A capital investment of three-quarters of a million euros sees the first phase complete. This consists of an array of ground-mounted solar panels with a 500-kilowatt peak. The second phase is currently in development planning with ESB Networks as this project is now part of ECP-2, the CRUs enduring connection policy in Ireland.

This additional phase will see the rollout of a further 1-megawatt peak array, giving the final Monart Solar Farm the capacity of 1.5-megawatt peak energy creation which will offset the energy demand for the three properties, Monart Destination Spa, Hotel Kilkenny and Ferrycarrig Hotel. It is the aim of the group to complete phase two of the Monart Solar Farm within the next 12 months.

Michael Griffin highlights; “We have been working on the solar project since 2021, and it is fantastic that phase one is now up and running. I am delighted that our team worked with local expertise in bringing this energy generation project to life; Pinergy SolarElectric and Robert Hassey Electrical are all based within 15 minutes of our Solar Farm location at Monart.”

For further details on the Griffin Hotel Group's sustainability actions see https://monart.ie/griffin- group-sustainability/