ESB has officially opened a major battery plant at its Poolbeg site in Dublin, which will store excess renewable energy for discharge when needed.
It said the facility will add 75MW of fast-acting energy storage to help provide grid stability.
This latest battery energy storage system (BESS) is part of ESB’s pipeline of projects which are being delivered at sites in Dublin and Cork - representing an investment of up to €300m.
"Energy storage like this major battery plant at the ESB’s flagship site in Poolbeg will be a core part of Ireland’s new renewable energy transition and will play a key role in balancing our new, homegrown power supply," said Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications.
"No electricity system can operate without a backup. In Ireland this has traditionally been provided by fossil fuel generation.
"However, into the future, we can store increasing amounts of wind and solar power in energy storage projects and use it to support the system instead of relying on dirty and expensive coal or gas," he added.
Jim Dollard, ESB Executive Director, Generation and Trading, said today marks an important milestone for ESB.
"The location of this project, at our Poolbeg Energy Hub, will build on our longstanding history of innovation at the site.
"We are looking forward to continuing to work with our partners to deliver the remainder of our projects in development this year," he added.
ESB is working with partners Fluence, as well as Irish companies, Kirby Group and Powercomm Group, in the delivery of these projects at Poolbeg, Aghada, Inchicore, and South Wall.
