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

The programme for Government commits to expanding and incentivising microgeneration to help people generate renewable electricity for their own use and to sell excess electricity back to the grid. My Department outlined proposals for a new microgeneration support scheme in a public consultation that closed in February last. A summary report of the submissions received has been published on my Department's website. While the primary aim of a microgeneration scheme is to enable a household to meet its own electricity needs, it is intended that a suitable payment for excess electricity generated on site and exported to the grid will be available to all renewables self-consumers later this year, subject to regulatory arrangements, in line with the transposition of Articles 21 and 22 of the recast renewable energy directive.

It is expected the CRU will publish a draft framework in the coming weeks outlining the details, including eligibility criteria and timescales for introduction, of the clean export guarantee payment for exported renewable electricity. This framework will introduce an obligation on all electricity suppliers to offer remuneration to their customers, by way of a clean export guarantee payment, for excess renewable electricity exported to the grid by eligible micro and small-scale generators.

Further to the public consultation mentioned previously, my Department is developing a final scheme design for the microgeneration support scheme which incorporates feedback from the consultation and subsequent additional analysis. It is envisaged a proposal on the supports to be offered to homeowners, farms, schools and businesses under the scheme, which may include grants or premium tariff payments, will be submitted to Government later this year.

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