Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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114. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to specify the agreed or provisionally agreed auction contracts under RESS 1, RESS 2, RESS 3 and RESS 4 respectively; the number of successful projects; the total capacity of successful projects; and the percentage share of total successful projects that are that are wholly or partly owned by ESB and its subsidiaries, in tabular form. [42437/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Under the Climate Action Plan 2023, Government has set an ambitious target of having an 80% share of electricity generation capacity coming from renewable sources by 2030.

In order to build on this success and increase wind and solar generation on the grid, my Department is delivering a regular programme of auctions under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS).

The RESS auctions provide pathways for renewable developers to plan and develop their projects, with supported technologies including, but not limited to, onshore wind, solar, and hybrids (co-located wind, solar, and/or storage).

Details of projects successful in each of the RESS auctions are publicly available on the EirGrid RESS website, and RESS projects which have energised and are eligible for PSO support are listed on the annual PSO Statutory Instrument, the most recent of which can be found on the statute book website here: www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2024/si/377/made/en/pdf

Given the Department's role in overseeing the RESS auctions and potential regular changes in the corporate structure of projects, it is not appropriate or feasible to provide a breakdown of ownership of RESS projects by an individual company. Information submitted at the time of the auction was at a point in time, and ownership (either in part or in its entirety) could have changed in the period since the auction. The ownership, partial ownership and potential ownership of individual projects is submitted to and taken into account by the CRU in the role of determining competition within individual RESS auctions.

The table sets out the aggregate information requested for the four RESS auctions to date:

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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115. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to specify the agreed or provisionally agreed auction contracts under ORESS 1 and ORESS 2.1 respectively; the number of successful projects; and the total capacity of successful projects and the percentage share of total successful projects that are that are wholly or partly owned by ESB and its subsidiaries, in tabular form of. [42438/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) supports delivery of our Climate Action Plan target of meeting 80% of electricity demand from renewable energy sources by 2030.

In 2023, my Department staged our first offshore wind auction under the RESS, known as ORESS 1. Of the six participants in the auction, four were successful and were awarded supports under the RESS. These four projects account for a total capacity of approximately 3.1 GW. None of the four successful projects involves ESB or its subsidiaries.

The two projects unsuccessful in the auction account for another 1.2 GW approximately. These two projects are pursuing an alternative, non-RESS supported route to market and if successful will contribute to our 2030 target of 5GW installed offshore renewable energy capacity in the same manner.

My Department's next offshore wind auction, known as ORESS Tonn Nua (formerly ORESS 2.1), is expected to take place in the first half of 2025. This auction will be for a single 900 MW site located in the South DMAP, recently approved by the Oireachtas.