Ireland has selected 2,747.89 GWh or 1.948 GW of wind and solar power capacity under round 2 of the country's Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) as per provisional results announced by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.
It would translate into approximately 1.534 GW of solar and 414 MW of onshore wind, representing a potential increase of nearly 20% in Ireland's renewable energy generation, according to the government.
The government had been seeking between 1,000 GWh and 3,500 GWh, comprising mainly solar, under this round launched about a month back (see RESS 2 Auction Round Launched In Ireland).
According to state owned electricity transmission operator EirGrid, a total of 153 projects entered the qualification process out of which 130 projects including 15 community projects got to participate in the process. In the final round, 80 projects have been provisionally successful.
The average weighted bid price discovered in this auction is €97.87 per MWh for all winning projects, while for community projects the same was determined as €116.41 per MWh. In comparison, under RESS 1 solar secured a weighted average bid price of €72.92 per MWh winning almost 600 MW capacity with solar appearing as a standalone preference category (see Solar Appears To Be Winning Over Wind In Irish Auction).
"International inflationary pressures have contributed to higher auction prices than under RESS 1 and these costs will need to be monitored," said Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, while adding, "Renewable energy delivered under the scheme will shield consumers from high prices, reduce our dependency on imported fossil fuels in the context of the phasing out of Russian energy imports across the EU and contribute to communities across the country."
These results are termed provisional because participants have time till May 24, 2022 to submit their notice of dissatisfaction, post which final auction results will be declared on June 15, 2022.
Details of the auction process, winners and winning projects list are available on EirGrid's website.
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