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

The Government's energy security package, published in November 2023, contains a wide range of measures to strengthen Ireland’s energy security in the long term, including through reduced and responsive energy demand, a commitment to delivering on a renewables-led energy system, enhancing resilience across energy supply and enhancing oversight and governance mechanisms in the energy sector.

I welcome the publication of the All-Island Generation Capacity Statement 2023-2032, which is an annual report from EirGrid that examines the likely balance between electricity demand and supply for the next ten years. The most recent report shows an improved situation on the 2022 generation capacity statement, GCS, due to lower demand forecasts and the actions taken by the Government and State agencies to manage the situation. These actions include procuring both additional temporary and enduring capacity to generate electricity. The GCS is the principal forecasting tool to inform the setting of auction volumes within the single electricity market, SEM, and the SEM committee refers to the GCS analysis to make its capacity determinations for future capacity years so that there is a steady pipeline of required capacity.

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, currently has a programme of actions under way to ensure the security of our electricity supply. Regular updates on this programme are published on the CRU website. The energisation of temporary emergency generation, TEG, units in North Wall in December 2023 as part of the programme, with further TEG units to be energised in Huntstown in the coming weeks, and Shannonbridge and Tarbert across 2024, will mitigate risks to our electricity supply, going forward. The energy security package concludes that Ireland’s future energy will be secure by moving from a fossil fuel-based energy system to an electricity-led system, maximising our renewable energy potential, providing flexibility and integrating into Europe's energy systems.

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