Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As somebody who does not normally like members going on and on, I am contributing for the third time. I ask my colleagues to forgive me.

I wish to touch upon the issue battery development again. While it is an area of emerging technology, we have seen a significant shift in terms of capacity in batteries in recent years, particularly in the last decade. I am sure that will continue, given the billions of euro that has been invested in the technology.

I am thinking about the capacity of the State or our providers to build up a reservoir of capacity for the country in the coming years. Timelines and things like that are obviously important for this committee and for Government to consider. What are the best-case scenarios that the witnesses are aware of in respect of the delivery of battery storage for those dark days that we have discussed, with the various constraints that are present in terms of interconnectors, back-up supplies and natural gas and all of the other things? It will clearly form an integral part of the future of our network. At what stage will it become a significant part of our network? How big a role will it play?