Electricity storage plays a critical role in providing flexibility to the Irish electricity system and helping to increase the volume of renewable energy on the grid. The second Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 2) recognised the important role of electricity storage in delivering renewable targets and introduced, for the first time, the option for developers to couple renewable electricity generation with storage facilities on their project site. Supported technologies within RESS 2 included onshore wind, solar and hybrids (co-located wind and storage, or co-located solar and storage). A number of such hybrid projects were successful in the RESS 2 auction and Government will continue to support hybrid projects in this manner. All projects contracted in the RESS are required to make contributions of €2/MWh to a community benefit fund. However, standalone storage projects, such as batteries, are not eligible for support under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) if they are not part of a hybrid project. As such, they are not required to participate in RESS.
