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

I agree that we need to be far more ambitious and see far greater delivery in the area of community energy. The Deputy attended, as did I, the European Commission and CRU event last week on empowering citizens in the energy revolution. We need to be really ambitious and fast. The auction system has not delivered what we would want, which is why we are switching.

I also agree with the Deputy that one of the key issues has been grid access. Community projects often find themselves having to pay for upgrades to the grid, which makes the projects unviable. CRU, EirGrid, and the ESB at the distribution level, will have a vital role in making sure we provide and protect grid access for community renewable projects. We are switching from an auction system towards a system where there is a support price guarantee up to 5 MW, which will take out some of the risks. We will work with EirGrid and CRU to make sure the grid aspects are also addressed.

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