Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 May 2026
172. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment his views on ring-fencing portions of available grid capacity at ESB substations for community renewable energy especially in view of the EU Commission decision that member states need not enforce first come first served policies and also in light of examples for prioritisation of community renewable energy in other EU states such as Lithuania. [38627/26]
View answerIn Ireland, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) is responsible for grid connection policy. The CRU is an independent regulator, accountable to a Committee of the Oireachtas and not to me as Minister. The management of, and matters related to, connections to the electricity grid, including community renewable energy projects, are functions which are assigned to ESB Networks and EirGrid, under rules determined by the CRU. ESB Networks and EirGrid are also independent of me as Minister in the exercise of their respective functions.
The pathway to connection to the electricity grid is dependent on the nature and scale of the project seeking connection and whether it is a demand or generation customer. I am advised that connection applications are dealt with on a sequential, first come first served, basis.
Since September 2025 eligible RED III renewable energy projects can apply for an onshore grid connection through the CRU Enduring Connections Policy – Generation System Services (ECP-GSS). The ECP-GSS made a number of changes from the previous connections policy to help facilitate connections to the grid. These include introducing a bi-annual “batch” processing of applications instead of annual processing and the parallel processing of planning and grid permits for the first time to achieve shorter permitting timelines.
Specifically for community-led projects, the ECP-GSS removed the upper and lower Maximum Export Capacity (MEC) limits and caps on the number of community-led projects that can enter an ECP-GSS batch. Financial measures for community-led projects include the removal of the requirement to pay a capacity bond for projects under 6 MW, and a reduction of the first stage payment for these projects from €10,000 to €5,000 per MW.
The CRU, EirGrid and ESB Networks have respective contact email addresses for Deputies should they wish to raise matters of concern (oireachtas@cru.ie, oireachtas@esb.ie, oireachtas@eirgrid.com).
