Mr. Nicholas Tarrant:

Gabhaim buíochas as an gcuireadh chuig cruinniú an lae inniu. Tá brón orm ach níl a lán Gaeilge agam agus, mar sin, labhróidh mé leis an gcomhchoiste as Béarla, lena thoil.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee for the invitation to today’s meeting. My name is Nicholas Tarrant, and I am the managing director of ESB Networks. I am joined by my colleague Alan Rossiter, who is responsible for three of our six regions across Ireland and is heavily involved in the delivery of connections as part of our wider programme of work. We welcome the opportunity to speak to the committee today on electricity infrastructure, and the key role that ESB Networks plays in the connection of both housing and renewable connections. I am going to briefly introduce ESB Networks and cover some summary points on connections, our work in climate action, and connecting renewable generation. We have also included some examples of work in Gaeltacht areas and on the islands as an appendix to our submission.

ESB Networks is part of ESB Group, a commercial semi-State company, which is overseen by an independent regulator, the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, since 1999. ESB Networks meets the needs of all 2.4 million Irish electricity customers. We do not generate or sell electricity. Our role is to design, build, own, operate and maintain the electricity distribution network and, as transmission asset owner, to design, build and maintain the onshore electricity transmission network. There is approximately 180,000 km of electricity network across Ireland.

Our capital expenditure in 2022 was €869 million across all of our work programmes, including network connections. This is part of an overall €4.4 billion investment programme under our PR5 regulatory contract set by the CRU in 2020 for the 2021-25 period.

We have approximately 3,700 employees. This is a number that is increasing as we have a growing programme of work to meet the needs of the country and all electricity customers. We have recruited over 650 people in all parts of Ireland since January 2022, including by doubling our apprentice intake to 96 per year. We are also very proud to note that 25% of our latest intake of apprentice network technicians are female. We are a national organisation that is woven into the fabric of communities across the country. We are committed to continuing to grow our delivery capability to enable any further increases in both housing and renewable connections over the years ahead.

We have a central role in the delivery of the Climate Action Plan 2023 by connecting renewable generation, enabling the electrification of heat and transport and in other areas such as electricity demand flexibility, enabling the home retrofit programme and installing smart meters across Ireland. We launched our networks for net zero strategy in January 2023. This aligns fully with the Climate Action Plan 2023 targets and sets out our future plans to help to deliver net zero for Ireland.

In 2022 we completed over 33,800 domestic connections in addition to over 5,000 business connections. Further details are provided later in our submission. This was an increase of 36% when compared to 2021. In the first ten months of 2023, we completed almost 28,000 new domestic connections to the electricity network. This is 3.2% ahead of the number for the same period in 2022. Again, further details are provided in our submission.

ESB Networks is supporting the connection of renewable energy across the electricity transmission network and at all voltages on the distribution network. We have approximately 76,000 microgeneration projects connected to the network, and we are processing over 700 per week. For larger renewable connections, where a developer seeks the ability to export electricity, ESB Networks carries out a technical assessment and quotes the developer for the costs associated with upgrading the network to enable this electricity to be exported. This is in line with regulated connection policy.

We support innovation and climate action projects in Gaeltacht areas and the islands. Appendix 2 of our submission contains details of our Dingle project, which tested the development of low-carbon technologies in partnership with the local community. Another example is where we are working to support the REACT project in partnership with Údarás na Gaeltachta on Inis Mór. We have included a brief description of this project in appendix 2. We have also included some examples of the work we undertake on both the islands and in Gaeltacht areas to support these communities.

We engage with stakeholders and customers nationally to collaborate with them to deliver this programme of work. The provision of infrastructure and electricity network connections for housing and renewables has always been a key area for our business and will continue to be for the future. We rely on our relationships with landowners in rural communities, which we value very highly, to deliver projects across the country.

The requirements for housing, a growing economy and delivering on Ireland’s climate action plan will necessitate a major and sustained investment in the electricity network. This can only be achieved by having skilled people, a robust supply chain, and public support for this growing programme of work over the years ahead.

This is the end of our introduction, and with that, I will hand back to the Chair. I am happy to take any questions from members.