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

I referred to the energy security review in an earlier response, so I might immediately respond to the Deputy’s questions in his verbal presentation. With regard to backup generation, which is critical, we have all been watching this in the past week, when our wind power was very low because of the high pressure across north-west Europe. With the very cold conditions, there has been very high demand for electricity and, obviously, we have been very tight in terms of availability. I am glad to say our system has held up in probably the most challenging conditions and, in the coldest, darkest part of the year with the calmest conditions, we were able to provide power. Nothing is guaranteed through the rest of this winter and we could lose plant or have other circumstances, and interconnection with the UK might be tricky because France and the UK have similar problems. However, I am glad we are managing through the immediate very cold period.

We will introduce a further 245 MW of procurement of emergency power. Work is ongoing on that in North Wall and Huntstown, which is the second location, to deliver that next autumn. Work contracts have also been signed. I was very appreciative this House agreed the legislation which will allow us also to purchase a further 450 MW of backup generation just for use in the last eventuality, if other plants are not available. Again, contracts are signed. The critical timeline to deliver it will be on the planning side with regard to whether it is delayed or how quickly we can get it through the planning system.

There is also ongoing work on the T-3 auctions and T-4 auctions, which will deliver further backup. We need gas-fired power generation to provide backup in periods like this when wind is very low. Critically, this will allow us to turn away from coal and oil, which have the highest emissions and which is the reason our emissions are so high at the moment. It is one of the biggest problems we have and we need to switch those off. The generation coming out of those T-3 and T-4 auctions are now our first priority and we need to deliver the majority of those. We can and will deliver that. I will come back to the Deputy on the storage piece in the second part of my reply.

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