Mr. John Mullins:

On behalf of EnergyCloud Ireland, I thank the committee for the invitation to discuss the important subject of energy poverty. As members know, EnergyCloud Ireland was established as a not-for-profit social enterprise to specifically help to tackle energy poverty by using surplus renewable energy. We salute the Chair and members for directing the committee's work programme to this important topic.

Last week, the committee heard from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications about how the key concern relating to energy costs is to protect the most vulnerable. That is why EnergyCloud was created. At EnergyCloud, our mission is to create solutions to use surplus renewable energy, which would otherwise be wasted, and redirect it to homes in fuel poverty. EnergyCloud Ireland is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and supported by EirGrid, ESB Networks, Wind Energy Ireland, SSE Airtricity, Clúid Housing and many others. To date, the organisation has been volunteer-led. The process to register it as a charity is under way. To enable EnergyCloud Ireland to support more families in energy poverty across Ireland, we are putting a full-time executive team in place.

The ESRI report on energy poverty and deprivation in Ireland highlights that more than 550,000 households are in energy poverty, with that figure increasing. Using a factor of 2.3, that is equivalent to 1.3 million people, which illustrates the scale of the problem and the need for creative solutions to address the crisis. The energy price crisis hurts all consumers but, most of all, those who are already struggling and in energy poverty. As successive ESRI and Government reports have illustrated, there has been significant energy poverty in Ireland for many years. The recent energy crisis has had a further adverse impact on this. We have heard from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul about people choosing between eating and heating. People having to choose between heating their home or eating is not something we, as a society, should tolerate. We can and must do more. That is what motivates the volunteer team present and those on the board of EnergyCloud Ireland.

In a separate submitted document we have outlined the astounding volume of surplus renewable wind energy in Ireland in recent years. Some 5,700 GWh of zero carbon renewable wind energy has been dispatched down or curtailed since 2018. In the first ten months of 2023, 724 GWh of wind energy was wasted in Ireland. The retail value of this wasted renewable energy is an astounding €250 million. Approximately 240 million tanks of hot water could have been heated with this wasted energy. Even as late as last night, 4,800 GWh - equivalent to 1.3 million tanks - would have been heated by the surplus renewable energy.

In 2021, the first homes were connected to EnergyCloud in a pilot project with Clúid Housing which was launched by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O’Brien. Working with Clúid Housing and with the support of Amazon Web Services, a major expansion was launched in 2023 by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan.

Last summer, the first EnergyCloud project with a local authority, Fingal County Council, was announced. In addition, SSE Airtricity has generously committed €2.5 million to EnergyCloud Ireland to support families in fuel poverty. What is the benefit for individual families? Throughout 2023, families in Clúid Housing, who are part of the EnergyCloud scheme, were able to receive a free tank of hot water on 115 separate nights. This was the number of times last year that significant curtailment of wind energy took place. All of this was possible due to the support of EirGrid, ESB Networks and key partners such as Amazon Web Services, Bord Gáis Energy, Prepay Power and SSE Airtricity, which are supporting families in energy poverty through the EnergyCloud initiative.

EnergyCloud is fully aligned with the climate action plan to deliver 80% of Ireland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030. As the country has a focus on sustainable energy production, and is committed to implementing its climate action plan, we believe EnergyCloud provides the opportunity to make Ireland a leader in creating solutions for surplus energy, rather than simply switching off wind turbines and solar panels.

Access to free renewable energy means that households that are part of the EnergyCloud project can simultaneously save money on electricity while reducing their use, and our use, of fossil fuels. This is a win-win-win situation.

The energy poverty action plan contains a range of measures to support and protect those in energy poverty or who are at risk of energy poverty. EnergyCloud should be part of the revised energy poverty action plan which will be published soon. EnergyCloud will engage with the Department as part of the consultation on this. We also believe that EnergyCloud should be a key component of the national retrofit plan.

Getting homes EnergyCloud ready allows technology solutions to be deployed to homes at risk of energy poverty, thereby reducing renewable energy wastage and displacing oil- and gas-fired systems while delivering a social good to heat hot water in fuel-poor homes. The introduction of smart meters is key to enabling those technological solutions.

From our perspective, EnergyCloud is, as I said, a win-win-win for Ireland. EnergyCloud can help Ireland's legally binding net zero emissions targets under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021.

We are surrounded by vast natural resources in Ireland and working together we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and reduce our carbon emissions while at the same time improving the lives of those who live in consistent fuel poverty across Ireland by utilising surplus renewable energy. We do this by using existing infrastructure and surplus renewable energy to help tackle energy poverty for thousands of families, helping to increase our overall percentage of renewable energy use and at the same time helping to reduce our carbon emissions. The energy is being produced and, regrettably, discarded, yet every property in the State is connected and can use this energy. We have the technology to do this while targeting a specific section of Irish society, namely, those in fuel poverty.

To date, a large number of local authorities, approved housing bodies and charities have signalled their intention to participate in a scheme to enable their homes to become EnergyCloud ready. Combined, and without a push on our part, approximately 75,000 homes with over 180,000 tenants are now registered with EnergyCloud.

We have provided the committee with a number of additional documents. The first is an overview of how EnergyCloud works from a technical point of view; the second is from my colleague, Ms Laura McDonnell from Clúid Housing, with direct feedback from its residents who are benefitting from EnergyCloud; and the third has details of the astounding volume of renewable wind energy that has been wasted in Ireland in recent years. As a practitioner in energy, I can say that curtailment is likely to increase in the coming years without enabling infrastructure.