Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 April 2024
129. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he has considered the option of allowing renewable energy companies two opportunities per annum to apply for grid connection; if so, the outcomes of such a scoping exercise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18618/24]
View answerResponsibility for the regulation of the electricity market is a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) which is an independent regulator, accountable to a committee of the Oireachtas and not the Minister. The CRU was assigned responsibility for the regulation of the Irish electricity sector following the enactment of the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 (ERA) and subsequent legislation. The CRU is responsible for, inter alia, electricity grid connection policy and the economic regulation of the electricity system operators ESB Networks, distribution, and Eirgrid, transmission.
Under Section 34 of the ERA, the CRU may give directions to system operators, EirGrid and ESB Networks, on the terms and conditions of access to the electricity system. Based on the CRU’s policy directions, the system operators issue connection offers to generators and storage projects. EirGrid and ESB Networks are independent of the Minister in the exercise of their functions as System Operators.
The current connections regime, Enduring Connection Policy-Stage 2 (ECP 2), was introduced in 2020 and designed to prioritise the connection of large renewable energy projects to maximise the amount and efficiency of renewable energy connecting to the grid. The final iteration of ECP, which comprised one annual application window, was ECP 2.4 and opened for applications in October last year.
The CRU held a consultation, which closed on 16 February 2024, on the successor to ECP (‘the ‘Electricity Generation and System Services Connection’ Policy), the responses to which will inform the introduction of a new policy framework to connect onshore generators, storage and other systems services technology projects (CRU/2023/163) to the grid. Feedback was sought on several topics, including, inter alia, on the CRU’s ‘minded to’ approach to introduce a bi-annual application process without caps for renewable generators. This new connection policy is due for publication in Q2, 2024.
The matters raised in this question are operational matters for CRU and therefore not a matter in which the Minister has a function. The CRU has a contact email address for Deputies, Oireachtas@cru.ie should they wish to raise matters of interest such as that raised in the question.
