Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 September 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy

Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities

2:00 am

Dr. Tanya Harrington:

I will just add a few things to those points. Ireland is very exposed to the gas international markets in particular. Over 50% of our generation fleet is fuelled by natural gas. When there are periods of Dunkelflaute or when renewable energy is not available, the last generator onto the system sets the price. Again, on a very windy or sunny day, that can be a renewable. The system and the framework are set up correctly for that. What is growing and is of concern are network imperfection charges, which are close to €800 million. They are driven by the need to upgrade our grid and this is why the PR6 investment is so important. We must build and strengthen our national transmission and distribution grid systems. Until we do so, there will be these charges that arise after the fact and after the market in respect of what it means to run that system in real life. We can do a couple of things. We can build the North-South interconnector. We can put a plan in place for dispatch down, which is where a plant, especially a renewable plant, is getting curtailed. The System Operator for Northern Ireland, SONI, has prepared a report for Northern Ireland and EirGrid is preparing a report here. There are several other measures that the single electricity market committee, SEMC, is actively working on. This is an area that is in our control and under active consideration.

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