Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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53. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the measures he is taking to address surplus renewable energy that is wasted; if he plans to introduce measures to redirect surplus energy to energy-poor households; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21493/24]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I want to ask the Minister of State the measures he is taking to address surplus renewable energy that is wasted; if he plans to introduce measures to redirect surplus energy to energy-poor households; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The climate action plan recognises that a range of cross-government policies are needed to transform our electricity system so that it can become more flexible and successfully accommodate an ever-increasing volume of renewable energy sources that are widely distributed across our island.

The dispatch down of renewable energy refers to renewable energy that is available to the grid but must be reduced as it cannot be used by the electricity system. This can be due to broad power system limitations, known as curtailments, local network limitations, known as constraints, or energy supply exceeding consumer demand. Dispatch down is unfortunate and both EirGrid and ESB Networks are addressing the grid limitations that cause it through various measures under their strategic roadmaps. Dispatch down can also be minimised by the adoption of demand-side response measures and greater levels of interconnection and storage.

We also recognise that Ireland’s citizens and communities can play a central role in our new energy future through flexibly managing their energy use in response to the level of renewable energy available.

By doing so, they can not only support the electricity grid but also lower their own energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint. The energy security package recognises this, and it commits the Government to improve the ways that homes and businesses manage their energy use by providing an evidence-based programme of communications and supporting active consumers through smart metering, smart energy services and related technologies.

These services will enable consumers, including those who are in energy poverty, to flexibly adjust their demand in response to market signals and the changing level of renewable energy that is available. Furthermore, a consultation to inform the development of a revised energy poverty action plan was published on gov.iein March 2024. The revised plan sets out a wide range of clear, time-bound actions aimed at tackling energy poverty with appropriate governance and evaluation, and considers the use of smart technologies, such as those used by EnergyCloud and other smart energy technology and service providers, to benefit energy-poor households and other vulnerable citizens.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State is familiar with the EnergyCloud model, and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has said positive and encouraging things about it. The Minister of State spoke of “dispatch down”. He is the Minister of State with responsibility for the circular economy, and it is a waste of energy. Poor people’s hot tanks are there, waiting to be charged and store that energy. They are immediately available and there is a need to link one with the other. I am not entirely sure from the response the Minister of State gave tonight, or indeed from the written response by the Department to the climate committee today, whether that is seen as an immediate solution. I think it is an immediate solution and it needs immediate action. I wonder, given what the Minister of State has said, if he sees an improved grid and storage elsewhere as the answers.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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As I understand it, EnergyCloud works by offering people who are on low incomes the chance to have a hot tank of water overnight, and that is done through energy that otherwise would have been thrown away and wasted. I understand this has been a successful experiment. I was asked about it before it started a couple of years ago and I understand that since it has been running it has been working well. It is for that reason that it is part of the energy poverty action strategy, which is in consultation at the moment. I urge the Deputy to make a submission on that and say whether he thinks it should be continued or changed in any way.

Part of the response to this is how we will make sure we are not wasting energy by having sufficient grid and sufficient connections to the rest of the world. At the moment, our electricity connections are only to the UK through Northern Ireland. We are strengthening our connection to Northern Ireland, and we are also building a new connection to France. We are in discussions with Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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To be clear, my colleagues, Deputy Ó Laoghaire and Senator Boylan, will be making our submission tomorrow. I think the deadline is tomorrow.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Yes.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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We will clearly say we believe there is an immediate strong and positive role for EnergyCloud and, in the future, for other technologies for an improved grid, improved battery storage, and everything else that goes with that.

I want to know if the Minister of State supports it. If he does support it, what needs to happen is for ESB Networks and the CRU to come together with EnergyCloud to ensure the regulatory processes are in place. The potential is immediately there. They are essentially working on a pilot basis with a number of Clúid houses at this stage. Almost to embarrass us, from time to time they publish the amount of energy that is lost to the system - it is hundreds of millions of euro. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of people are living in energy poverty. The Minister of State needs to act and match those two things up.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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There is a very simple answer to the question of whether I support the EnergyCloud system that takes energy that otherwise would have been thrown away and gives it to them to heat their water at night. Yes, I absolutely do. It has been a very successful experiment and I want to see it continuing. If we are going to continue with this kind of system, people need somewhere to store the energy in their home. A tank of water is one way of doing that, and a battery on the wall is another. An electric car is another option.

Over the last two years, energy credits were only a part of a much larger system of trying to give people money to make it possible for them to get through the winter without being cold. In other words, we subsidised the increased cost of electricity over the last two years. We spent €2.2 billion over the last two winters putting money directly into people’s accounts. I would much prefer if we needed to target payments in the future that we could provide electricity to people to store directly in their homes, particularly from sources that were cheap or that would otherwise be thrown away. I think we could have devised a much better system for the future and working on this would be well worth it. It would pay for itself. I look forward to its success in the future.