Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 May 2026
296. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the reason consumers continue to pay for renewable (wind) energy through the public service obligation to wind farms that directed to dispatch-down their production. [39503/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Public Service Obligation (PSO) is a vital policy support for the development of renewable electricity to enable Ireland to reach energy and climate targets. The PSO protects consumers by supporting investments in renewable energy at predictable prices and reducing reliance on importing fossil fuels. It helps shield consumers from international price volatility.
The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) has been instrumental in providing a supportive policy environment for Ireland’s growing renewables sector since 2020. The scheme includes consumer protection measures whereby when market prices are above the agreed strike price, the generator must pay back the difference to the PSO which reduces the cost to consumers.
In this period of higher market prices, projects contracted under RESS will be returning more savings for consumers through the PSO. According to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), who have responsibility for the PSO, for the first time a small number of RESS suppliers are receiving support from the PSO levy because their strike price exceeds the Benchmark Price. Overall, CRU calculated that RESS projects owed a total €11.1 million into the PSO for 2025/26, meaning that RESS projects have reduced the cost of the PSO by €11.1 million for this PSO year alone.
Under the RESS, an Unrealised Available Energy Compensation (UAEC) mechanism has been included since the third auction in 2023 for projects which cannot normally access compensation through the electricity market. UAEC, which is funded through the PSO, compensates RESS projects for system wide curtailment or where there is a surplus of renewables which is beyond a project's control. It does not compensate for electricity network constraints which remain an important locational signal. To date, I am advised that no payments have been made under UAEC.
UAEC helps protect consumers by offering support to successful RESS applicants only in periods where curtailment or oversupply has happened, which would have otherwise been included in auction bid prices and paid for by consumers regardless of if curtailment or oversupply occurred.
Issues regarding the development of the national electricity grid are a matter for EirGrid in conjunction with ESB Networks and the CRU. In that regard, constraint payments include the dispatch-down of wind and solar generation for localised network reasons as, under EU Regulation 2019/943, electricity generators are entitled to financial compensation for certain "dispatched down" periods. This process is managed by the Single Electricity Market Committee. Managing dispatch down is a priority as we seek to integrate more renewable electricity onto the grid.
