Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 July 2026
114. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the way in which his Department reconciles the State's electric vehicle roll-out targets with EirGrid's warnings regarding winter electricity capacity margins; the additional generation, storage, demand-response or grid measures being planned to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53780/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU), as provided for by the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (as amended), is responsible for ensuring Ireland’s electricity security of supply. The CRU are required to ensure that consistent risk preparedness plans are in place to prevent, prepare for and manage emergencies that may result in a loss of electricity supply to customers. As the responsibility for this lies with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), matters such as that referred to in the Question should be directed to the CRU in the first instance at oireachtas@cru.ie.
Notwithstanding this, I am advised that EirGrid’s Winter Outlook is an annual report that focuses on the 5-month period of peak electricity demand between November and April and examines the risks over the key peak demand weeks. The Winter Outlook for the 2026/2027 winter has not yet been released, however the 2025/2026 showed an improved picture from the year before, thanks in part to the Security of Supply (SoS) Programme, which has now closed, and the Electricity Adequacy Reporting Group (EARG) which was established to ensure continued monitoring of the ongoing aspects of the SoS programme. The overarching objective of the EARG is to ensure that risks to electricity adequacy are communicated through quarterly reporting to the Electricity Adequacy Oversight Group, who will review and action as necessary.
EirGrid also publishes an annual All-Island Resource Adequacy Assessment (AIRAA) which provides a forecast for supply and demand on the all-island electricity grid over the next ten years. The demand assumptions around Electric Vehicles are set out in section 4.2.4 of the report, which set out assumptions around the delivery of EVs under a 'low', 'median' and 'high' demand scenario. Overall, the AIRAA 2026-2035 shows that from 2029, the forecast is significantly better than last year’s assessment, with new generation capacity delivering and the Celtic Interconnector (linking Ireland’s and France’s electricity girds) becoming operational. Any potential deficits in capacity (more demand than supply) are addressed by out-of-market mitigations which are already available. These mitigations include the Temporary Emergency Generation TEG) units, which provide emergency back-up power when margins are tight, and the availability of the Moneypoint retained unit power station, which previously converted from coal to oil and is now available as a large back-up power station. These mitigations are not factored into the AIRAA report because they are temporary, but these mitigations will continue to be available during potentially challenging years.
