Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The national mitigation plan published in July 2017 was an important first step. It signposted the direction in which Ireland must travel, while openly recognising that it was not a roadmap for delivery. The national development plan has provided a significant part of the roadmap. Specifically in relation to the decarbonisation of electricity, the plan envisages investments to support up to 4,500 MW of renewable energy; enhanced interconnection of the grid to facilitate more renewables; the conversion of Moneypoint by 2025; and the roll-out of smart energy technology.

As the Deputy will be aware, renewable energies now provide, on average, 30% of supply and the system can accommodate up to 65% penetration by renewables at any one time. Further work is under way to enable the power system to manage 75% of renewables in real time by 2020. This is material to the efficacy of managing variable renewable sources. It is our aim over the coming years to increase renewable electricity to 55% of average supply. To achieve this figure, EirGrid is exploring future interconnection, pioneering engineering and economic approaches as well as the introduction of new technologies such as batteries, solar and demand side management to managing more than 90% of renewables in real time by 2030.

It is our intention to develop opportunities for a range of technologies to compete at auction under the renewable energy support scheme with the first auction in 2019. We also intend to develop the scope for microgeneration to supply the grid.

In the coming years, onshore wind, solar, offshore wind and biomass, as well as large-scale grid connected battery energy storage and interconnection, are expected to displace fossil fuels in our power system and drive Ireland’s transition to a low carbon electricity system. In addition, the EU emissions trading system, whose rules have now been reformed for the 2021-30 period, will send a strengthened price signal to the electricity generation sector that will promote investment in decarbonising technology and fuel switching to lower carbon alternatives.

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