Energy prices have more than doubled over the past two years and Irish golf clubs now face an existential crisis when it comes to meeting rising costs.

It’s little wonder then that many are going green with Ballyliffin, Loughrea, Dun Laoghaire, Roganstown and Portmarnock just some of the many clubs taking major steps to reduce their costs by opting for greener solutions.

“I believe Ireland should be leading and not following in this drive to increase sustainability and reduce your carbon footprint,” explained Paul Cuddy, co-founder and Director of Greenclub, which offers a turnkey solution to golf clubs looking at ways of reducing their energy bills.

“At Portmarnock, for example, we did a very comprehensive energy audit on everything from their greenkeeping equipment and irrigation system to everywhere they spend money on energy.

“Clubs are spending way more than they need to. It’s like having a sand wedge to the green and using a seven-
iron. The majority of clubs we have visited don’t have a building management system. They might have a committee room they use once a month, but the heat is on every day in a beast of a room. We do an energy audit for clubs and many have no idea these things are happening.

“It’s one thing spending money and another thing knowing what you are spending money on. We help clubs efficiently save energy and replace it with renewal energy – green solutions. Ballpark savings are in the region of 35 pc.

“An average golf club that was spending €85,000 a year before the Ukraine war is now spending €170,000. Clubs facing the threat of having to increase subs by €600 to meet these costs are urgently seeking solutions.”

Loughrea’s Adrian Callanan recently revealed that the club opted for solar panels now that the unit price of electricity has increased from 16-17c a unit just a few years ago to 70c today.

“The payback would have been 12, 13 years on the solar panels back then,” he told Golf Ireland. “But with the energy crisis, our unit price went up to a high of 70c a unit. So the payback period was much shorter. The whole system cost us €12,000 plus VAT. So our payback is a little over three years.

“And we try now to be much more economical with appliances. Fridges are knocked off at night, the heating only comes on at certain times. If there is a day when the clubhouse is closed, there will be no heat on. We just became more aware of the costs that were involved because of the huge increase.”

Ballyliffin recently completed the installation of a Solar PV system and expanded water heating capacity and surge protection measures, saving 29,808 tonnes of CO2 a year.

“The systems will dramatically reduce our energy consumption of both oil and electricity, provide a green energy solution for EV charging, reduce our energy costs and any excess energy will be sold back to the grid,” General Manager John Farren said. “The investment has a forecasted payback of a little over four years.”

Going green is now big business and two major Dublin clubs have made big savings thanks to recent innovations.

“GreenClub conducted an inspection and review of our premises,” a spokesperson for Portmarnock Golf Club said. “They identified several projects and created a ‘roadmap’ which will lead us toward a carbon-neutral future and save us a lot of money.

“We are now in Phase 2 of the project with GreenClub and already we have reduced our dependence on our energy provider and replaced that with renewable energy.

“We’re implementing several projects over a 3-year journey across biomass, building management systems (BMS), solar, EV charging, roof and building insulation and the rollout of our environmental policy.

“They have also introduced suppliers for the hardware installation who are very knowledgeable and are working with us to extract the best government grant supports available. Grant applications are extremely painful!”

GreenClub has helped clubs make huge savings.

“Paul and his team introduced me to designated suppliers who assisted with fleshing out the projects and in the applications for SEAI grants,” explained Ian McGuinness, owner of Roganstown Hotel & Country Club. “Based on the way the energy prices have exploded in the last six months, I’ve prioritised two of the projects for almost immediate implementation – a woodchip boiler installation and a solar PV array.

“The increase in electricity prices in the past six months has reduced payback on the solar PV array from circa eight years to less than four. The woodchip boiler installation doesn’t receive a capital grant, but rather you receive an annual payment for a period of 15 years based on displacing carbon fuels with biomass.

“For my installation, I’ll receive circa €41,000 per annum for 15 years from SEAI and at current gas prices, I will also save about €80,000 in fuel costs per annum.”