Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 25 June 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action
Long-Duration Energy Storage: Discussion
11:00 am
Mr. Bobby Smith:
The fundamentals are strong in Ireland. It is a relatively isolated island system. We have a lot of wind energy and demand will grow. You can see that in principle there is a huge need for energy storage. That is not necessarily something you can take to a bank and get a loan for by just saying there is a need. You would need to have something to underpin it. That is where this framework is key. It provides the floor to underpin that investment. As Mr. Kennedy said, we are moving towards a more capital-driven market. This is a key element of that. It is the same for wind and solar. We have the RESS that gives 15-year contracts because of that uncertainty in the market, and they need something to underpin that investment.