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Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS)
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
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The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme provides support to renewable electricity projects in Ireland. With a primary focus on cost effectiveness, the RESS delivers a broader range of policy objectives, including:
- an Enabling Framework for Community Participation through the provision of pathways and supports for communities to participate in renewable energy projects
- increasing technology diversity by broadening the renewable electricity technology mix
- delivering an ambitious renewable electricity policy to 2030
- increasing energy security, energy sustainability and ensuring the cost effectiveness of energy policy
The RESS 1 provisional and final auction results are now confirmed and available on the EirGrid website.
Renewable electricity is a central element of our action on climate disruption as set out in the Programme for Government, the Climate Action Plan 2019, and the National Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030. The RESS Scheme ensures that we are on a pathway to meet our ambitious climate targets and lays the foundations of a thriving and cost effective renewable electricity market. This will support the growth of the green economy, create sustainable work opportunities, and ultimately benefit the consumer as renewables become more cost effective.
RESS auctions will be held at frequent intervals throughout the lifetime of the scheme. This will allow Ireland to take advantage of falling technology costs and avoid 'locking in' higher costs for consumers.
The RESS 1 Terms and Conditions and the RESS Investment Scheme Supplementary Note are available below.
RESS 1 Terms and Conditions
This document sets out the terms and conditions that will apply to the first competition to be conducted under the RESS and to the ongoing administration of awards made in the RESS 1 Auction.
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RESS Investment Scheme Supplementary Note
Citizens will be provided with opportunities to invest in Community Projects through the inclusion of the Community Projects preference category in RESS-1.
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RESS High Level Design
This paper focuses on the High Level Design (HLD) for the new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) for Ireland.
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The final results of the RESS 2 auction process were approved by government and are available on the EirGrid website.
The successful projects in RESS 2 represent a potential increase of nearly 20% in Ireland’s current renewable energy generation capacity. They will be delivered between 2023 and 2025.
2,748 GWh of the 3,772 GWh bids submitted were successful in the auction. This equates to approximately 414 MW of onshore wind and 1,534 MW of solar.
You can find out more about RESS 2 on gov.ie.
Following on from the consultation process and the recently announced Government approval of the key design features of RESS 3, the RESS 3 Terms and Conditions have now been published below.
A Consultation Response Notice has also been published. This document provides a summary overview of key decisions in the final Terms and Conditions in response to comments and suggestions received during the consultation process.
The auction timetable has been finalised and can be found on the EirGrid RESS website.
The RESS 3 auction has commenced and the Qualification Application closing date has now passed.
Since publication of the RESS 3 Terms and Conditions, DECC have now revised the Terms and Conditions to make some minor amendments. The Revised Terms and Conditions are available below along with RESS 3 Stakeholder Information and Summary of Amendments to Terms & Conditions.
Please note the Revised RESS 3 Terms and Conditions now supersede the originally published RESS 3 Terms and Conditions.
The RESS 3 Stakeholder Information and Summary of Amendments to Terms & Conditions outlines key information for stakeholders along with a summary of the amendments that have been made to the original RESS 3 Terms and Conditions.
RESS 3 Stakeholder Information and Summary of Amendments to Terms and Conditions
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RESS 3 Terms and Conditions - Public Consultation Response Notice
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The Programme for Government commits to holding RESS auctions at frequent intervals throughout the lifetime of the scheme. This will allow Ireland to take advantage of falling technology costs and avoid 'locking in' higher costs for consumers.
As required under Article 6 of the Renewable Energy Directive, Ireland has published a Renewable Electricity Support Scheme - Schedule of Future Auctions.
On 20 July 2020, Ireland received State Aid approval from the European Union to operate a Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) out to 2025. The European Commission assessed the scheme under EU State aid rules, in particular under the 2014 Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy. The European Commission concluded that the Irish RESS is in line with EU State aid rules, as it promotes the generation of electricity from renewable sources, in line with the European Green Deal, without unduly distorting competition. A press release from Minister Ryan’s announcement in July 2020 gives further information on the approval.
As part of the EU guidelines on State Aid, Member States are required to publish the Evaluation Plan and the Final Evaluation Report.
The Final Evaluation Report will be published in due course.