John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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548. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to protect the REFIT revenue due to small and community renewable generators when I-SEM market structure goes live; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7359/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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My Department has committed to updating the Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFIT) and other electricity support schemes funded by the Public Service Obligation (PSO) so that they are compatible with the new wholesale electricity market design on the island of Ireland, the Integrated-Single Electricity Market (I-SEM), which is due to go live in May of this year.

In November 2017, my Department consulted on a number of proposed decisions setting out a preferred approach to adapting the existing electricity support schemes to the new market arrangements   My Department is seeking to implement an approach that strikes the appropriate balance between providing certainty such that REFIT-supported generators are able to finance their projects and ensuring that electricity consumers do not bear the risk of increased costs, particularly around the costs of balancing across market timeframes.

The economic modelling that supports the proposed decisions illustrates that the Department’s preferred approach minimises the cost impact on consumers by incentivising wind generators to contract with the market and manage their own risks.  In order to provide additional risk mitigation to smaller renewable generators, I have proposed applying a further level of protection from the costs of balancing for renewable generators below 5 MW.

Following extensive engagement with industry stakeholders, my Department intends to shortly publish a final decision on the transition of the electricity support schemes to the I-SEM.