Post: Government announces package of measures to secure power supplies  

Government announces package of measures to secure power supplies  

The Cabinet has approved a package of measures to help mitigate the rising cost of rising electricity bills and to ensure secure power supplies for households and business across Ireland over the coming years.

Published on 14 June, the package of measures includes funding approval for back-up generation capacity, to address risks to security of electricity supply over the coming winters. The Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU), which has statutory responsibility for security of supply, has directed EirGrid to procure additional temporary emergency generation capacity (for the winters of 2023-24 to 2025-26). This additional generation capacity will be contracted for a limited period. It will be available when needed and will be in addition to existing generation capacity in the electricity market.

Measures also included increasing the borrowing limit for EirGrid to strengthen the power grid and to deliver the Celtic (Ireland-France) Interconnector. In addition, an increased borrowing limit for Bord na Móna will drive greater deployment of indigenous renewable energy across the midlands and beyond.

The government has also approved the final results of the second onshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 2) auction, which will facilitate the deployment of more than 1.9GW of new wind and solar power capacity. The tender was completed in May and resulted in 80 projects securing contracts with a guaranteed price for power for up to 16.5 years. The average strike price across the winning bids stood at €97.87/MWh. Of the awarded capacity, totalling some 1,534MW, is for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, whereas 414MW was left for onshore wind coming from 11 schemes. The selected projects, which were provisionally approved by state-owned electric power transmission operator Eirgrid, are due to be completed between 2023 and 2025.

GridBeyond Managing Director UK & Ireland Mark Davis said:

“Funding approval for additional back-up generation in Ireland will be welcomed by many given the challenges seen last winter. While this capacity will ultimately provide flexible and temporary back-up capacity, to safeguard secure supplies in the short term, policy certainty is required to attract the investment needed for longer term security. Appropriate market signals are needed for demand response and battery storage projects to mitigate for an aging conventional generation fleet and compensate the increase in renewable generation.

“The results of the RESS 2 auction mean that renewables technologies will play a solid contribution to Ireland’s energy mix, but as an intermittent source of power if we are going to decarbonise the sector and meet our net zero targets, digitalisation and technologies that enable flexible assets whether on the generation or the demand side will be crucial.”

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