Chairman:

Mr. Foley spoke about the consenting regime for offshore renewable energy, a matter on which the Oireachtas needs to do work. What are the other obstacles to development of a successful offshore renewable energy industry from a grid perspective? Is it currently able to handle that additional renewable energy? I understand that our current peak demand is 5 GW. Is that correct? We hear the potential or capacity of the grid currently is up to 50 GW. I ask Mr. Foley to expand on the capability of the rural grid to handle greater levels of renewable energy, particularly in the midlands and the west. What implications would closing the three power stations in the midlands have?

What is the impact on the grid of increasing numbers of data centres? What are the projections for future growth in the area? How does it relate to renewable energy demand? Who would pay for the additional renewable energy required by data centres? Why have power-purchase agreements not been taken up here as they have in other countries? That question arose in the other committee when discussing the capacity for data centres.