Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 19 December 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Examination of the Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly (Resumed)

12:00 pm

Mr. John Melvin:

The previous system involved one large batch, perhaps 3,000 or 4,000 MW of connections, which took many years to build.

The current approach is that every two years or so there will be a smaller batch that could be developed, with offers made, and built. The timing of those would line up with the various Government policies and initiatives, including the RESS. The timing of the offers would coincide with the schemes there to support them. If those RESS auctions take place every two years, the batches will be designed to match that so that all the different arms of policy are lined up. Essentially, the batches for the connections will be timed to align with that every couple of years.