Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 October 2025
144. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the amount of funding developers of wind energy farms have received from the State in the previous ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54064/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra145. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the amount of funding developers of solar energy farms have received from the State in the previous ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54066/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra146. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the amount of funding developers of large scale renewable energy projects have received from the State in the previous ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54070/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 144, 145 and 146 together.
Under the Programme for Government, Government reaffirmed the target of increasing renewable generation to supply 80% of our electricity demand and to continue the annual Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) auction programme to underpin this.
The RESS auctions provide pathways for renewable developers to plan and develop their large-scale projects by guaranteeing a fixed price for the electricity they produce once operational. Technologies supported by RESS include onshore wind, solar, and hybrids.
RESS projects receive support through the PSO levy, which is applied to all electricity customers collected by electricity suppliers as part of their bills. Under the PSO, over 4.6 GW of renewable generation is supported by the Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff (REFIT) schemes and the RESS. As such, neither wind nor solar renewable energy projects receive any funding from the State.
RESS projects only receive support from the PSO once they become operational. The support then only applies when the wholesale price of electricity is below the contract price. When wholesale prices exceed the contract price, RESS projects must repay the difference back into the PSO.
The table attached details the support provided to REFIT and RESS projects by the PSO for each year over the past ten years.
It should be noted that the negative figures are years in which the consumer received a net refund from the PSO.
The latest CRU Decision on the PSO Levy for the period October 2025 to September 2026 is available at www.CRU.ie.
|
Year |
State Funding |
PSO total annual support € Millions |
PSO Monthly cost (Domestic) € |
|
2016/17 |
0 |
392 |
6.02 |
|
2017/18 |
0 |
472 |
7.69 |
|
2018/19 |
0 |
209 |
3.48 |
|
2019/20 |
0 |
176 |
2.84 |
|
2020/21 |
0 |
393.13 |
6.52 |
|
2021/22 |
0 |
263.70 |
4.30 |
|
2022/23 |
0 |
- 491.25 |
- 7.43 |
|
2023/24 |
0 |
- 67.47 |
0.00 |
|
2024/25 |
0 |
251.79 |
1.57 |
|
2025/26 |
0 |
162.37 |
2.01 |
