Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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52. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment further to Parliamentary Question No. 227 of 3 June 2021, his plans to introduce a minimum requirement in respect of the number of members a renewable energy community can have; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43967/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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To ensure genuine community participation in the separate community category of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS), the definition of a community-led project for the purposes of forthcoming RESS auctions will include the stipulation that such projects must be fully owned by a Renewable Energy Community (REC). The REC definition employed in RESS was largely derived from the REC definition provided through the EU’s Clean Energy Package, with particular reference to Article 22 of the recast Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001. Accordingly, under the definition adopted in RESS a REC must be open to all potential local members based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria and must be effectively controlled by shareholders or members that are located in the proximity of the project, which underlines the key role of local participation and decision making in the energy projects. Members of a REC can include individuals, SMEs, local community organisations and local authorities, thus facilitating broader sources of equity funding than savings from local residents alone.

A minimum number of members is not defined in the recast Renewable Energy Directive, which is currently in the process of being transposed into Irish law. I am not inclined to define a minimum number through the transposition process underway in recognition of the fact that no two communities are alike, particularly in terms of size. What is more important than the number of members a REC can have is that its primary purpose is to provide environmental, economic or social community benefits for its shareholders or members or for the local areas where it operates, rather than financial profits.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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53. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way Ireland can ramp up production of renewable energy in order to prevent future energy supply issues. [44230/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (the CRU) has statutory responsibility, under S.I. 60 of 2005, to monitor and take measures necessary to ensure the security of electricity supply in Ireland. It is assisted in its statutory role by EirGrid which is responsible for the day-to-day management of the electricity transmission system. The CRU has advised me that they have identified specific challenges to ensuring continued electricity security of supply, which they are currently in the process of addressing.

Renewable energy can contribute to security of electricity supply. The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme incentivises private sector investment in renewable energy production by awarding, via competitive auction, long-term support premiums for renewable electricity produced.

In addition my Department is carrying out a review of the security of energy supply of Ireland’s electricity and natural gas systems is focusing on the period to 2030 in the context of ensuring a sustainable pathway to 2050.  The review includes a technical analysis which will help inform a public consultation which will be carried out later this year. The review, which I expect to complete in the first half of 2022, will be submitted to Government.