Minister Ryan gets government approval for measures to accelerate renewable electricity
- Storage Policy will speed up delivery of storage on Ireland’s energy system
- Consultation responses will guide the development of a new Private Wires Framework
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, this week received government approval for two memos which can accelerate the delivery of and ensure that Ireland gets optimum benefit from our renewable energy potential.
The two memos set out future plans for the development of electricity storage, which will allow excess renewable energy to be stored and used when needed, and Private Wires, which will allow community energy groups, private individuals or other energy users to run their own electricity cables in order to transfer electricity.
Both developments are the other side of the coin from the large-scale development of renewables. These two developments are essential building blocks of a new renewable energy system, which by its nature is variable and accessible to all, from individual householders to community energy projects to large energy users.
The Electricity Storage Policy Framework for Ireland – a first of its kind policy – sets out the role of electricity storage systems in ensuring that Ireland can “bank” excess energy from renewables when they are plentiful so that it can utilised on the grid instead of fossil fuel. This might be when demand is high or when capacity from wind or solar is low, for example during a low pressure period in winter. At the moment, Ireland has about 800 MW of storage capacity, and the policy framework recommends that Ireland procures additional storage immediately.
The addition of these electricity storage systems will not only increase the amounts of greener renewable electricity onto the grid, which will ultimately provide cheaper, green electricity to the consumer, it will ensure that Ireland’s grid can exploit the opportunities provided by the fast pace of our renewable generation programme and facilitating the growth of Irelands industrial sectors.
Analysis by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) suggests that early delivery of onshore renewable electricity generation this decade will drive down wholesale electricity prices by up to 10% leading to lower bills for households and businesses.
The second memo is the Private Wires Guiding Principles for Policy Formulation.
On a basic level, Private Wires refers to private individuals or undertakings running their own electricity cables in order to transfer electricity. Private Wires in most instances will involve crossing land and/or property that the cable owner or operator does not own, whether this is privately or publicly owned land. Currently, the transfer of electricity from external generation to demand site (houses, factories, and so on) only takes place on the State-owned national electricity grid.
With Private Wires, the connection between end users and renewable sources can be put in individuals’ control, allowing community energy groups for example to bring energy directly to demand users, or allowing larger energy users like a pharmaceutical company to get its energy directly from a local solar farm, that is not part of its campus.
The vast majority of Ireland’s energy needs will continue to be supplied through the national grid. Private wires will work in complement with national policies and the ongoing development of the grid, the CRU (Commission for Regulation of Utilities) or the grid systems operators.
The public consultation sought input on a number of opportunities from both onshore and offshore perspectives to include green hydrogen production, linking local generation with demand, linking generation and demand which are far away, to potential uses such as private networks akin to small private electricity grids.
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, said:
“These two policies are the essential other side of the coin to our renewable electricity ambitions. They are building blocks in our interconnected energy and technological transition to a better way of powering the country.
“It is clear from both the engagement on the Electricity Storage Policy and the large number of responses to the Private Wires consultation that they are areas that are of interest to many. They offer the potential to deploy more renewables within the energy system and to assist with our decarbonisation goals.
“Getting more renewables onto the system is key if we are to meet our climate goals. Delivering an electricity storage policy framework and a Private Wires framework is essential to unlock private sector resources to build new electricity infrastructure.”
For more information visit the Electricity Storage Policy Framework and the Private Wires Consultation on the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications website.
Storage
In line with Climate Action Plan commitments (Climate Action Plan 24 action EL/24/16), the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication has developed an Electricity Storage Policy Framework for Ireland. The policy framework outlines the present roles, technical processes, market positions and regulatory structures of electricity storage in Ireland.
The policy framework addresses the grid’s immediate and near-term needs by supporting the incorporation of electricity storage from the immediate up until 2040.
The Electricity Storage Policy Framework for Ireland has been reviewed and approved by the CRU and the System Operators, EirGrid and ESB Networks, through the Storage and System Services working group which is part of the Accelerating Renewable Electricity Taskforce. These three primary stakeholders have assisted significantly throughout the development to this policy framework and alongside the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications are key stakeholders in the implementation of the policy frameworks actions.
This is an overarching policy framework for Ireland and the policy framework comprises of ten policy actions, four chapters and associated annexes. The ten policy actions are:
- Maintain a technology neutral approach to all electricity storage systems
- Creation of a ‘sandbox’ project to advance both System Operators’ technological knowledge of emerging electricity storage technologies
- Convene an electricity storage and system services working group as part of the Accelerating Renewable Electricity Taskforce
- Convene a forum for an expanded group of stakeholders including statutory bodies, leading industry representatives and academic/interest groups
- Support access to the wholesale electricity markets, arbitrage and revenue stacking for electricity storage systems
- Support the immediate procurement of demand flexibility products and of (long duration) electricity storage to meet specific network needs, in the Distribution and Transmission systems respectively
- Initiate a ‘Quantity’ consultation to establish the optimal (long duration) electricity storage requirements to meet climate targets and electricity grid network expansion between 2030-2040
- Initiate a ‘Financial’ consultation to establish if the expected market mechanisms due between 2025-2028 will provide sufficient service provider certainty to meet the optimum (long duration) electricity storage systems requirements of 2030-2040
- If required and pending the outcome of the ‘Financial’ consultation, develop a market framework to further incentivise the incorporation of (long duration) electricity storage system technologies to the grid to meet 2030-2040 requirements
- To ensure a route to market for the identified optimum (long duration) electricity storage requirements for 2030-2040 is in place before end of 2028
There have been vocal calls for Private Wires from within the electricity industry for several years. Furthermore, acting in respect of Private Wires has been included as part of recent Climate Action Plans. In August 2023 the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) published a Private Wires public consultation, which completed action EL/23/15 of the Climate Action Plan 2023 and represented the first steps towards developing a final policy on Private Wires.
The consultation received 128 responses and a summary report of these has been compiled. The summary report along with an appendix of all responses is being published today and reflects the outcome of that consultation process.
Climate Action Plan 2024 includes a commitment for the department to develop a Private Wires Policy Framework by the end of 2024. To assist with the development of that forthcoming policy, government has approved 8 principles which will guide its formulation. These principles are being published today and will assist the wider public in understanding the direction of travel for this policy area. These principles do not have direct effect and do not make any changes to the current system, they are to assist in the development of a future policy.
On a basic level Private Wires refers to private individuals or undertakings running their own electricity cables in order to transfer electricity. Private Wires in most instances will involve crossing land and/or property that the cable owner or operator does not own, whether this is privately or publicly owned land. Heretofore the transfer of electricity from external generation to demand site (houses, factories, and so on) has taken place on the State-owned national electricity grid.
Private Wires are an issue that is of interest and importance to many stakeholders with numerous potential opportunities for their deployment. The public consultation sought input on a number of opportunities from both onshore and offshore perspectives to include green hydrogen production, linking local generation with demand, linking generation and demand which are far away, to potential uses such as private networks akin to small private electricity grids.
Private Wires is an open ended, catch-all term which means different things to different people. Therefore, for the purpose of the public consultation the Department attempted to classify types of Private Wire and attribute working definitions to same. We classified Private Wires as being either a ‘Private Line’ or a ‘Private Network’.
For the purpose of the consultation both ‘Private Lines’ and ‘Private Networks’ have a number of similar characteristics:
- They only relate to electricity infrastructure
- They are privately owned, operated, and maintained, that is, outside of the control the ESB, a subsidiary thereof, or EirGrid
- They can relate to the generation of electricity for self-supply or the generation of electricity for sale or onwards distribution
- They do not utilise the national electricity grid for the transfer of electricity, and
- They can be at either Transmission or Distribution level
- A ‘Private Line’ is a privately owned electricity line, and associated infrastructure, used to supply electricity and which links a single generation site with a single demand user
A ‘Private Network’ is a privately owned electricity system consisting of associated cables and infrastructure, used to transport and supply electricity, which;
- Links a single generation site with multiple demand users, or
- Links multiple generation sites with a single demand user, or
- Links multiple generation sites with multiple demand users, or
- Variations of the above entailing more than two undertakings
