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

My written response to this question is quite similar to one I gave to a previous question. If I may take that response as given, I will answer the Deputy's question more directly and provide some further information. First, electricity interconnection with other countries is a critical way of bringing down the price of electricity here and giving us security. As we move to very high renewable penetration on a European regional basis, I see the development of what has been called a European super grid, that is, a mesh network grid that also connects into offshore renewable assets, as a way of reducing the cost of developing the latter.

There is real progress in this regard. The Greenlink interconnector is under construction and will be delivered in a very short timeframe - within the next two years, as I understand it. The Celtic interconnector connecting Ireland and France has just been approved through the An Bord Pleanála process and we expect it go to construction and be delivered in a similarly timely manner. We should not stop at that. Indeed, we are looking at a whole range of different areas. One of the issues I discussed with the European Commissioner when I met her this morning was how such a mesh network grid could help to meet our needs.

There has been a wider debate at the European Council on this whole issue in terms of market design and whether the whole of Europe should go with the approach the Spanish, Italian and other governments have been advocating. The clear consensus and view at the European Council is not to take that approach. The view is that it would be seen as a potential dismantling of the market system and would fatally undermine investment, regulation and development of the solutions we need here and now. We need to do a massive scaling up, beyond compare with anything done before, in the development of interconnection infrastructure, including offshore wind, in particular, but also solar and other power supplies. We must continue to review the market system. However, there is a clear majority view at European Council level not to go down the Spanish and Italian route. The view is we need to see what measures can be taken to protect consumers but that we should not fundamentally dismantle the existing European regulatory and market system.

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