Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 February 2022
77. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the safeguards that he will put in place to ensure that communities can access supports for community renewable energy projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10393/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) is the main Government policy to help deliver on our objective of up to 80% renewable electricity by 2030. The RESS supports communities in a variety of ways, including through a separate category for community projects and a mandatory community benefit fund for every project supported in the scheme. The Climate Action Plan includes a target for at least 500 MW of renewable electricity to be supplied by local community-based projects, meaning approximately 100 community projects will be needed to meet this ambition. In order to ensure such a pipeline of community projects I have allocated €2 million in capital funding in Budget 2022 to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).
This funding will enable SEAI to deploy a range of capacity-building supports including toolkit guides to assist communities in developing renewable projects. The first four of these, covering grid connection, Solar PV, the planning process and onshore wind, are available on the SEAI website, with more to be developed in the coming months. A trusted intermediary service is also now in place, with an advisor service and financial grant supports to be delivered in Q2 2022.
To ensure genuine community participation for future RESS auctions, only projects that are 100% owned by a Renewable Energy Community (REC) will be eligible for the separate community category, ensuring that all of the benefits from the project stay in the local area. The REC definition in RESS is based on the definition set out in the EU’s Clean Energy Package, in particular Article 22 of the Renewable Energy Directive. Accordingly, a REC must be open to all potential local members and its primary purpose should be to provide environmental, economic or social community benefits for the local areas where it operates, rather than financial profits.
