Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is always a pleasure and an honour to be here in the Seanad. I thank the Senator for raising this important issue, which I am very happy to address on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, who cannot be here.

Under the programme for Government and the Climate Action Plan 2019, Ireland has adopted a target of at least 70% renewable share in electricity production by 2030, including up to 1.5 GW of solar.This will contribute to meeting the Government target of reducing Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030 and meeting the long-term target of climate neutrality by 2050. The higher level of ambition set in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill will be reflected through a new set of policies and measures in the 2021 climate action plan. A public consultation is currently under way and we are looking for expert evidence from scientists, and input from householders, citizens and communities to help chart that journey to carbon neutrality.

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is supporting the rapid deployment of renewable energy projects and the efficient connection of onshore wind, solar and offshore projects through regular competitive auctions under the renewable electricity support scheme, RESS, as well as through enhanced regulatory rules for connecting projects to the grid and modernisation of our offshore planning system. Solar energy projects were a key part of the success of the first RESS auction held last year, accounting for more than 60% of the successful capacity. The programme for Government commits to building on this success by ensuring that greater shares of our electricity needs are met through solar power through the development of a solar energy strategy for rooftop and ground-based photovoltaics. Detailed work is under way in the Department on the planning and design of the second RESS onshore auction and it is anticipated that a large volume of solar projects will be eligible to compete in it. A timetable will be published in the coming months, which will set out the key milestones in the competition, including consultation on the terms and conditions, the qualification process and the auction bidding window. Those are major projects that will come through auction.

Regarding solar community energy projects, two significant challenges to the development of community energy in Ireland have traditionally been the route to market and access to grid. I am pleased to reflect now on the substantive progress on both issues. A new route to market has been provided for communities within the RESS, in which the first auction included a dedicated community projects category. Seven projects were selected for support. It is the Minister, Deputy Ryan's, intention that communities all over the country should be able to generate electricity and reap the benefits in their own localities from the sale of that electricity. He aims to ensure the delivery of 100 community electricity generation projects by 2030. To ensure an adequate pipeline of such projects, the Minister has allocated an additional €3 million in capital funding this year for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, to stimulate locally-owned community energy projects. This funding will enable the SEAI to deploy a range of capacity-building supports, including information dissemination, trusted intermediary and adviser services and financial supports such as enabling grants. The initial elements of this service are up and running, such as a dedicated phone line and an appointed trusted intermediary.

Grid connection policy, administered by the independent energy regulator, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has recently opened up a simplified process for communities seeking connection to the national grid for community projects. This is known as the enduring connection policy. It provides for a separate strand within the framework process, facilitating 15 community projects a year. Both the grid process and the RESS route to market will facilitate more community solar projects in the coming years.

The programme for Government commits to expanding and incentivising microgeneration, including roof-top solar energy to help citizens generate their own renewable electricity and to sell it back to the grid in 2021. A microgeneration working group, chaired by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, is developing an enabling framework for microgeneration that tackles existing barriers and establishes suitable supports within relevant market segments. The proposed support mechanism was outlined in a public consultation, which closed for submissions on 18 February, and the submissions received are being reviewed. While the primary aim of a microgeneration scheme is to enable a household to meet its own electricity needs, it is envisaged that a suitable payment for excess electricity generated on-site and exported to the grid will be available to all microgenerators in the second half of 2021, subject to regulatory arrangements, in line with Articles 21 and 22 of the recast renewable energy directive.

The CRU published an updated roadmap for the clean energy package's electricity and renewables directives in February, which provides for a public consultation on the regulatory framework for consumer development later this year. The document is available on the commission's website. The commission is also reviewing the connection policy for microgeneration in the 12 kW to 50 kW range under the existing provisions of its enduring connection policy to assess how to facilitate greater numbers and ease of connections.