Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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142. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the degree to which investment in wind turbines that are capable of producing electricity in the short term can be funded as a matter of urgency, with particular reference to the dependency of Ireland and Europe on imported fuels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21598/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) is one of the major Government policies to help deliver on the ambition in the Climate Action Plan 2021 of up to 80% renewable electricity by 2030. The RESS is an auction-based support scheme which invites grid-scale renewable electricity generation projects to compete to receive a guaranteed price for the electricity they generate.

Over 1GW of new wind and solar generation was secured in the first RESS auction in 2020, and projects are expected to reach commercial operation before the end of 2023. The first RESS 1 projects have begun to reach commercial operation already with 2022 set to have the largest volume of new renewables connected to the grid in a single year.

The second RESS auction is due to open this Friday 29^thApril, with provisional results expected in mid-May. A significant volume of new renewable generation including onshore wind is expected to be secured under RESS 2 and it is anticipated that this will deliver a major increase in renewable electricity generation by the end of 2024.

Alongside this, members of my Department are drafting the terms and conditions for offshore wind-specific RESS auctions with the first auction expected to open for applications later this year. At least three offshore RESS auctions are currently planned for this decade.