Clongowes’ new solar farm

Clongowes Wood College has taken a major step forward in sustainability with the launch of a new ground-mounted solar farm on campus. The Irish Jesuit Provincial attended the launch and blessed the solar farm Thursday 10 April 2025.

The solar farm spans 0.44 hectares behind the Vinny Murray all-weather pitch and features 520 ground-mounted PV panels, each generating 550 watts. With a peak capacity of 285 kWp, it is expected to produce approximately 270,000 kWh annually, avoiding an estimated 87 tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year, providing a significant portion of the school’s electricity needs.

Clongowes Wood College is a seven-day boarding school for boys. The campus includes over 20 buildings set on extensive farmland. The college provides accommodation for up to 450 students, staff living quarters, and housing for the Jesuit community in the historic castle. Facilities on campus include a 25-meter swimming pool, a 1,000m² sports hall and gym, multiple classrooms and study spaces, the James Joyce Library, and the Refectory.

In its statement the college says that this development is set to , underscoring its commitment to environmental responsibility. They say the investment “marks a significant step in reducing the school’s carbon footprint. The solar farm represents a cornerstone in the school’s mission to promote eco-friendly practices throughout the college. ‘Caring for our Common Home’ is one of the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus, and for the college, the project is a clear expression of that value.”

The solar initiative complements a range of green projects led by the school’s ‘Green Schools’ committee, including efforts to reduce water consumption, encourage sustainable travel, and cut down on car use.

During the opening ceremony an Ignatian Reflection written by Elisabeth Clarke, Director of Ethos at Clongowes was shared. In it she said, “Our world is a gift, and we must take care of it with love and responsibility. This solar farm is a symbol of commitment to sustainability, to using energy wisely, and to protecting the planet for future generations.”

Speaking at the launch of the farm Fr Shane Daly SJ remarked, “The solar farm might seem like a small attempt in the scale of the global crisis we are living in. However, the Pope speaks of an “ecology of daily life” as a way to improve the quality of human life, considering the very setting or small realities in which people live their lives.”

The project was made possible through the support of Nigel and Sharon Reams and the Provincial thanked them for their generosity and for what he called “this symbolic and practical gift.” Read his full address and blessing below.



Address and Blessing of Clongowes Wood College Solar Farm

Pope Francis, when writing his encyclical letter on Care for our Common Home, gave it the title of the famous canticle by St Francis: Laudato si’, mi’ Signore – Praise be to you, my Lord, because in this canticle St Francis calls our common home our sister and our mother, with whom we share our life and who opens her arms to embrace us. Pope Francis comments: “Saint Francis, faithful to Scripture, invites us to see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness.”

The Pope invites us to reflect about what he calls ‘theology of creation’: human life is grounded in the relationship with God, with our neighbour and with the earth itself. We were given a beautiful world in order to cooperate in God’s plan and to care, protect, oversee and preserve it.

Instead, by forgetting this relationship with our loving Creator, we have looked at ourselves as ‘masters’ of this world; not content to receive what nature offers us, we attempt to extract everything possible, with the delusion of an infinite or unlimited growth. Pope Francis writes, “This is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads the planet being squeezed dry beyond every limit.” By denying the recognition of our relationship with God and the gift that earth is to us as our sister and mother, we have embarked in “a spiral of self-destruction, which currently engulf us.” But Creation is unlimited in what it will give us if we work with as partner and not master. Clongowes Solar farm attests to that – human ingenuity unlocking the potential contained within the gift without exhausting it.

Moreover, the Pope insists on the fact that there is “an inseparable bond between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society and interior peace.” From this comes the idea of the need for an “integral ecology:” a vision capable of taking into account all aspects of existence: the environment closely interrelated to human and social dimensions. Actually, the very term ‘environment’ is defined by the Pope as “the relationship existing between nature and the society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it, and thus in constant interaction with it.”

These points allow us to recognise the value and the significance of the construction of this solar farm. It is not only a very clever and efficient solution to obtain precious energy in total respect with the harmony of creation, but it is an action that has even wider repercussions in our environment and our society. Pope Francis says: “It is essential to seek comprehensive solutions which consider the interactions within natural systems themselves and with social systems. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.” It seems to me that the very concept of a solar farm expresses how environmental and social concerns have to progress united.

This project of the solar farm is also an example of an ‘economic ecology’, where the protection of the environment is strictly connected to economic growth and development and cannot be considered in isolation from it. Again, using the words of the Pope, it is an example of an urgently needed “humanism capable of bringing together the different fields of knowledge, including economics, in the service of a more integral and integrating vision.

Today, the analysis of environmental problems cannot be separated from the analysis of human, family, work-related and urban contexts, nor from how individuals relate to themselves, which leads in turn to how they relate to others and to the environment. There is an interrelation between ecosystems and between the various spheres of social interaction, demonstrating yet again that the whole is greater than the part.

The solar farm might seem like a small attempt in the scale of the global crisis we are living in. However, the Pope speaks of an “ecology of daily life” as a way to improve the quality of human life, considering the very setting or small realities in which people live their lives. Small local projects bring focus to local cultures and favour participation into a present reality. We cannot underestimate the educational purpose that the solar farm will have on generations of Clongowes students, as it will become a template for tackling reality in an integral way in whatever circumstance they will find themselves.

On behalf of the Trustees of Clongowes, and the Jesuit Education Trust I want to offer a profound thank you to Nigel , Sharon and the Reams family for their generosity to the College expressed in this symbolic and practical gift. Thank You.

Blessing of Solar Panels

“In you is the source of life and in your light we see light.” (Ps 35: 10)

“God made the two great lights; the greater light to govern the day, the smaller to govern the night…God set them in the vault of heaven to shine on the earth, to govern the day and the night and to divide light from darkness. God saw that it was good.” (Gen: 1:16-18)
Creator God, may we have the wisdom to appreciate the goodness of your creation.
“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. It is he who made the great lights for his love endures forever.” (Ps 135: 1,7)

Gracious God, may we experience your ever-renewing bounty with awe and gratitude. Human genius is also your gift; may we use it wisely and apply it to the needs of the world and its peoples. Generosity is a mark of your presence; bless the Reams family for their generosity to the Clongowes Community.
“At the end of the sky is the rising of the sun; to the furthest end of the sky is its course. There is nothing concealed from its burning heat.” (Ps. 18:7)

Holy God may this simple act of harnessing your eternal light help us to escape the global heating that our generation is causing over your creation.
“Arise, shine out for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen on you.” (Is. 60:1)
Loving God, your gift of light enables us to shine. May we, created in your image, be worthy reflectors of your glory.

(Blessing adapted from Rabbi Fred Scherlinder)

Thursday, 10th April 2025