3 August, 2018
Hello again and please find below a summary of two new schemes announced in the past week or so in the renewable space.
Firstly as predicted the SEAI announced a grant scheme for Solar PV and battery storage for dwelling houses which is open with immediate effect. The grant equates to about 40% of the cost of installing a solar PV and battery storage system. We expect that home will be able to generate at least 50% of their annual electricity requirements by installing a system. The grant amount is €700/kwp installed up to 4kw and €1,000 euro towards battery storage so a total of €3800. Application for grants will not be open till October but work done from now qualifies.
Full details are on the SEAI web site and if you are interested or want more details www.seai.ie and check out www.smartsolar.ie to learn more about solar PV or feel free to call anytime. I attach pictures of a 5kwp smart solar system installed with 8.8kw of battery storage which will give you an idea on how they look installed and we predict that this homeowner will generate close on 70% of their annual electricity requirements from this install.
The Cabinet approved the Renewable Energy support scheme (RESS) for the next number of years which will kick in with the first auction in 2019 for shovel ready projects.
The full document can be accessed on www.dccae.ie
In summary the first auction is technology neutral and will be for 1000 GW/h which will be filled with 356MW on shore wind, 253MW off shore wind, 1000MW solar or 134MW of biomass. The second auction in 2020 is for 3000GW/hrs and in that auction there will be technology CAPS imposed. Another auction for 3000GW/hrs in 2021, 2023 and 2025. Significantly bid bonds will be required for those participating in the auction process which is aimed at stopping guys speculating. Any project hoping to secure support must have planning and grid connection. So expect some solar farms that are ready to go getting through the system in 2019
Currently there is circa 3,500MW of renewable energy generation in Ireland and in the National Development Plan Ireland will need to deliver an additional 4,500MW (onshore wind equivalent) of renewable energy generation by 2030 . To date relating to the 2020 targets Ireland has delivered 27% of its 40% target in electricity, 5% of its 10% in transport and 6.8% of its 12% target in heat so lots of potential for the sector going forward if these targets are to be met.
Of particular note in relation to the new RESS document is the requirement for community involvement where up to 10% of the project has to be offered to community members by way of investment. Community definition is priority within 5km and then 10km but once properly offered and independently done no necessity for them to take up the full allocation. It will be interesting to see how this develops. In addition there will need to be a community benefit contribution of €2/Mw.
Community based renewable projects are also going to get priority as a category in the second and subsequent auctions with up to 15% of the allocation targeted. We will need to wait and see what the definition of community is to see what potential there is and we will let you know. We also see that there will be further discussions in the coming months on options for supporting roof top solar and this may be supported for exporting to the grid as part of community projects.
Expect news in the coming months on AD for bio-methane and energy generation as discussed previously.
Enjoy Bank holiday weekend,
Pat