Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fundamentally, as the Deputy will know, the grid itself is owned by the State. We operate an all-island electricity market. The State owns the grid itself both North and South. The further expansion of that to harness offshore renewables in particular, as the Deputy knows, are the RESS auctions. We have five applications in planning right now. They are a very important part of actually expanding our renewables. There are other funding methods available. The Deputy will be aware of the corporate power purchasing agreements, CPPAs. They are critical enablers of the investment needed to underpin the renewables. The big focus over the coming years, now and this year and beyond, is actually strengthening the grid onshore and expanding it offshore. That has to be done. EirGrid will have a very significant plan for future investment and has been undertaking that. However, price review, PR, 6 is going to be critically important with between €10 billion and €13 billion of investment between 2026 and 2030. That is up from approximately €5 billion in the previous five years. That is critical to ensuring that we move towards a stable energy environment and can actually expand our electricity output to allow us to grow further.

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