Dr. Paddy Finn:

When EirGrid introduced the DS3 system services programme, it also introduced a qualification trial process which acknowledged that what has got us to here will not get us to where we are going. We need to embrace new technologies which have had limited opportunities to be tried and tested on other power systems given that Ireland is operating on the leading edge. During that process, members of Ireland's demand response industry have developed technologies to meet the highest speed frequency response services which would require full response within 150 milliseconds. This is unprecedented anywhere in the world. Typically, the fastest services electricity markets seek to procure are at 5 seconds. We now see that electricity markets are following in Ireland's footsteps. We see that requirement for increasingly faster services in other markets as they become more highly renewable. It means that the technology developed in Ireland starts to bear fruit in other markets around the world.