Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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150. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment further to Parliamentary Question No. 72 of 1 June 2022, the status of the preparation of the finalised terms of reference for the Offshore Renewable Energy Scheme (ORESS 1); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45794/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is finalising the terms and conditions for ORESS 1, the first offshore wind auction under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme. A public consultation on the draft terms and conditions for ORESS 1 was held between October 2021 and December 2021 and over 150 responses were received. My Department issued a formal response to consultation feedback on 31 May 2022. As per Question No. 72 of 1 June 2022 and the Provisional ORESS 1 Auction Timetable, published by EirGrid on 21 June 2022, the ORESS 1 auction is scheduled to launch in Q4 2022, subject to the availability of a sufficient quantity of eligible projects for a competitive auction. Key auction eligibility criteria will be for offshore wind projects to hold both a Maritime Area Consent (MAC) and a Grid Connection Assessment (GCA). MACs were established under the Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Act 2021 and are planned to be issued by me, as Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, to the first batch of offshore wind projects before the end of this year. GCAs are planned to issue to this batch of projects, from EirGrid, in a similar timeframe and in advance of the qualification stage of the ORESS 1 process in Q1 2023. While the MAC and GCA processes remain underway, the ORESS Project Board decided to continue to develop the ORESS 1 terms and conditions further over summer 2022, including consideration of several measures with the intention of further de-risking the auction process and to ultimately reduce the cost borne by electricity consumers. Final ORESS 1 Terms and Conditions are scheduled to be submitted for Government approval and publication in the coming weeks.