Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Darragh O'Brien, has welcomed the results of the latest national auction for new onshore wind and solar energy projects as part of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme.
The outcome will see 23 major new renewable energy projects delivered over the next four years, mainly in the east, southeast and midlands of the country.
Included in that are 18 solar farms and five onshore wind developments, which, between them, will produce enough clean electricity for 357,000 homes.
That will be over 200MW of electricity from wind and 860MW from solar - a significant contribution to Ireland's target of 80% of electricity demand to be met by renewable sources.
The outcome also underscores that solar can compete with onshore wind farms and is now Ireland’s fastest growing renewable electricity source.
Wind Energy Ireland, which represents wind farm developers, said it was delighted to see five wind projects win contracts but expressed disappointment with the size.
Its CEO, Noel Cunniffe said, today’s auction means more clean, affordable and secure power for Irish families and businesses.
"While we’re delighted to see five of our projects win contracts, we had hoped for a bigger auction and to see more projects get over the line.
"Our priority now is to focus on finding an alternative route to market for those unsuccessful projects while preparing for next year’s auction by working with the Government to get more wind farms out of the planning system and with secure grid connections."
The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme operates competitive auctions where developers of wind and solar farms offering to produce and supply renewable electricity to the national electricity grid for a 15-year period at a Government supported price.
The average price achieved on this occasion is €98.81 per megawatt hour of electricity.
This is the amount successful renewable energy providers are guaranteed to be paid, even when the wholesale price of electricity falls below that level.
However, if wholesale prices are higher, the renewable electricity suppliers are required to repay money to electricity customers.
It is a two-way settlement arrangement that provides significant protection to consumers while at the same time ensuring the economic sustainability and attractiveness of the renewable energy projects for developers.
This was the fifth auction to date, and the weighted-average price settled on was similar to that achieved under the last three of these auctions.
To participate in the auction, every bidder had to have planning permissions and electricity grid connection permissions in place and be prepared for their project to be operational and providing electricity to the national grid by 31 December 2029.
On this occasion, there were 40 applicants, but only 33 qualified to make bids.
This included 10 proposed onshore wind farm projects and 23 proposed solar farms.
Out of them, five wind farms and five solar farms made unsuccessful bids.
This left 23 successful bidders, 18 of which were solar farms.
All projects will be obligated to contribute to a Community Benefit Fund.
The minimum contribution will be €2 per megawatt hour of electricity.
This should yield a total of €45 million in community benefits over the next 15 years. That will be €3 million per year of benefits for the communities in which the new renewable energy projects are located.
Minister O’Brien said the renewable energy that will flow from today’s auction will cut carbon emissions, reduce Ireland’s dependence on imported fuels, and generate investment and jobs in communities across the country.
"Accelerating and increasing the deployment of renewable electricity generation, especially onshore wind and solar, is fundamental to meeting our sectoral climate targets.
"July this year also marked a significant milestone for Ireland, as it was the first full month in which coal did not feature in our electricity fuel mix, after its use was discontinued at Moneypoint in June after 40 years.
"The deployment and connection of wind and solar energy generation at pace and at scale to our electricity grid benefits households and business by shielding them from volatile fossil fuel imports using our indigenous natural energy resources", he said.
