Mr. Bobby Smith:

I wish to come in on the Senator's question around the cost of renewables in Ireland. One of the main reasons renewables are very expensive in Ireland is because they face high levels of dispatch-down, which available wind generation that has to be turned down either due to transmission constraints, congestion in the network, or systems security limitations, which is the 75% instantaneous penetration that EirGrid referred to. The aim is to get that up to 95% to 100% by 2030. We fully support that. It would make a big difference in terms of the dispatch-down that wind and solar face, which would drive down the cost of renewable supports.

The other pillar of this, which will be key in the future, is the transmission constraints. Some projects in the west of the country, in particular, where there is high on-shore wind resource would face constraints of potentially 20% to 30% in the future, if the grid is not built out to accommodate that energy. The issue is that grid build-out is challenging. It takes a long time. These are infrastructure projects in the countryside, so they can take time to deliver. However, a potential solution, as highlighted in my statement, is that energy storage behind these constraints can provide the same result without the need for that large infrastructure and help drive down constraints by as much as 90%, in some of our analysis. That would have a huge impact on the cost of renewables in Ireland in driving down that price and utilising the available renewables generation at times when it would otherwise be lost. That is a key pillar. A more strategic location and more locational incentives for storage to build in these constrained regions would be ideal.