Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Rourke. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has statutory responsibility for monitoring and taking the measures necessary to ensure the security of electricity supply in Ireland. It is assisted in this statutory role by EirGrid, which is responsible for the day-to-day management of the electricity transmission system.

CRU has advised me that it has identified challenges to ensuring the continued security of electricity supply. It is in the process of addressing these. They include lower-than-expected availability of some existing power stations; anticipated new power stations not being developed as planned; expected growth in demand for electricity, including through the growth of data centres, as mentioned by the Deputy; and the expected closure over the coming years of power stations that make up approximately 25% of conventional generation capacity.

There is a range of actions being taken by CRU and EirGrid to ensure security of electricity supply. These include maximising the availability of existing generators; the development of new generation capacity, including temporary generation capacity in advance of winter 2022; making changes to the grid connection rules for data centres; and working with large energy consumers to reduce, where possible, their electricity demand during peak periods.

While a number of system alerts have been issued over the past year, including two last week, they have not affected the supply of electricity to customers. I am advised by CRU that owing to the expected return of two key gas-fired power stations by November, the outlook for the coming winter has improved. However, it does not eliminate the potential for further system alerts. My Department is supporting CRU and EirGrid as they progress the actions necessary to ensure continued secure electricity supply.

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