Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 April 2022
60. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will undertake a study into all the renewable energy options available to Ireland to examine the infrastructure development that is required and that can be achieved to help Ireland achieve the climate action goals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21325/22]
View answerThe Climate Action Plan 2021 includes a suite of actions to realise the full potential of Ireland’s onshore and offshore renewable energy resources including a commitment to the achievement of up to 8GW of installed onshore wind, up to 2.5GW of solar, and 5GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030. Additionally, there is a further commitment to develop a longer-term plan to harness the estimated potential of at least 30GW of offshore floating wind power in our Atlantic waters. 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. A significant volume of new renewable generation is expected to be secured in the second RESS auction which will take place next month. Alongside this, my Department is drafting the terms and conditions for offshore wind-specific RESS auctions. At least three offshore RESS auctions are currently planned for this decade.
Achieving the target of up to 80% of electricity coming from renewable sources will entail investment of tens of billions of euro, including in the installation and maintenance of generation assets, and associated infrastructure and services, as well as in the development of supply chains and port infrastructure. In particular, significant grid infrastructure projects will be required at both transmission and distribution level. In this context, EirGrid have committed to updating their ‘Shaping our Electricity Future’ roadmap to assess the infrastructure required to meet Ireland's up to 80% renewable electricity target and deliver on our climate ambition.
