The Government's policy objective is to ensure that energy is consistently available with minimal risk of supply disruption to meet the needs of businesses and domestic consumers. EirGrid, as the national transmission system operator, is responsible for developing and upgrading the transmission system in order to meet ongoing and future electricity needs, and as part of that function, it continuously assesses the type and mix of technologies required to meet Government policy goals. Electricity storage contributes to grid stability, emissions reductions and system security by providing reserve capacity and ancillary services. The extent of its contribution depends on the reliability, storage size, flexibility and grid integration of individual technologies. While EirGrid is not responsible for the provision of energy storage or developing generation, it does carry out research and studies on different forms of generation and technology in support of the role of policy makers and CER. EirGrid has reported on various storage technologies in the most recent Generation Adequacy Report covering the period 2010-2016 which particularly examined large pumped hydro storage stations of the order of 1GW and 100GWh in combination with high renewables. The Generation Adequacy Report is available on www.eirgrid.com. In addition to this, EirGrid has commissioned Pöyry engineering consultants, to report on future generation portfolio options, including storage, for the All-Island system. I have asked EirGrid to make the Pöyry report available to the Deputy, once published. EirGrid is also participating in European level studies on electricity storage, which look at both large transmission connected projects and smaller distribution connected projects.
