Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Curtailment is a big issue, as are dispatch down rates. That is why grid expansion and investment are critical. Storage is important too, especially for renewables, as is making our grid smarter. These are not just things we would like to see. These are things that can be done but will require substantial investment to do them. Battery storage technologies are improving but facilities will also be built that are in planning. That will help in that regard.

EnergyCloud is a good example of how unused renewable energy can be used at the appropriate time to do things such as heating free tanks of water. It is doing approximately 1,000 homes, 500 of which are in the Fingal area. That is something we support, but a fundamental shift needs to happen with regard to being able to use more of the renewable energy that is generated. There will always be a balance. We saw that some of what happened on the Iberian Peninsula - we do not have a full report on it - was about not having the correct mix.

The Deputy mentioned private wires. I thank him for his work on that, too. What we got approval for yesterday and will bring forward is the policy statement on private wires. It is a big change. It will not be the panacea for everything but if we get the legislation done, we can really get moving on this and show what the parameters of the first step of private wires are that we want to get in place. We want to get crew in place to be able to deal with these by the second half of next year. We will have a real opportunity, particularly for renewable generation and point to point. From generation to energy user, we obviously want the standard of private wires to be the same as our grid. That would allow more private investment, including firms that are locating to generate their own energy to also store that energy there. I was very pleased with that decision yesterday. That is something we can build on. This committee will be very involved in the pre-legislative scrutiny, which got approval from the Cabinet yesterday. The way we will proceed is with the draft heads of Bill, then coming to committee and speaking to stakeholders. We want to get this done as expeditiously as possible.