The Government has set a target of having at least 2GW of new flexible gas-fired generation by 2030 in our Climate Action Plans to ensure secure generation of electricity at times of low renewable output and/or high demand. The CRU, EirGrid and my Department are supporting the ongoing delivery of this 2GW of new flexible generation capacity through capacity market auctions.
The operation of the capacity market auctions is undertaken by the Single Electricity Market Operator (SEMO) under the oversight of the Single Electricity Market Committee (SEMC). The CRU is part of the Single Electricity Market Committee (SEMC) which decides on the volumes to be procured in the capacity market, in what regions of the all-island grid, and the resulting costs.
Appendix 9.1 of EirGrid’s All-Island Resource Adequacy Assessment 2025-2034 has detailed information regarding the registered capacity of dispatchable generation (gas-fired and other) and interconnectors in Ireland in 2025.
Since 2020, 171MW of derated gas-fired generation capacity, in three sites in the Greater Dublin area, has delivered through the capacity market. In addition, a number of other projects have delivered that will contribute to Ireland's security of supply including storage and the 500MW Greenlink Interconnector project in 2025. No gas-fired generation has been decommissioned in this timeframe.
There are four temporary emergency generation (TEG) units: North Wall and Huntstown (TEG 1); and Shannonbridge and Tarbert (TEG 2). The generation capacities of North Wall and Huntstown are 191 MW and 50 MW respectively, and generation capacities of Shannonbridge and Tarbert are 262 MW and 150 MW respectively. Furthermore, Moneypoint power station (520MW derated capacity), which converted from coal to heavy fuel oil in June 2025, has been contracted to remain open until 2029 as an “out of market” unit to provide power only when required by the system operator for electricity security.
Eirgrid's 'risk adjusted' view of capacity market delivery over the next three years is set out in Table 5.1 of the All Island Adequacy Assessment. This risk adjusted view is based on plant delivering early, delivering late, or not delivering. An updated Adequacy Assessment by Eirgrid with a new forecast around capacity market delivery is expected to be published in the coming weeks.
