Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action
Future Licences and Contracts to Connect Data Centres to the Gas Network: Discussion
Mr. Jim Gannon:
Yes. I am happy for either of my colleagues to take this question if I am not clear enough. I will try not to ramble.
A project needs funding for the electricity it produces. If it enters into one of the RESS auctions, it receives a contract. That contract gives it a set amount of money for each kilowatt hour or unit of electricity that is produced from the wind farm. If the market price is above that set level, then the wind farm will return the excess. It therefore just gets the amount that is set as its required price. If the market price is below that level, then it will get topped up to the price that was struck in the auction.
An alternative to that is entering into a corporate power purchase agreement. This is where a corporate entity enters into an agreement directly with the wind farm on the price of electricity that is produced. Therefore, the wind farm for the electricity produced would be paid by the corporate entity, as distinct from the RESS auction process and that type of contract. There is a range of different types of risk sharing that can be put into these contracts.
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