Consultation on Article 26 of the Net-Zero Industry Act for ORESS Offshore Wind Auctions

The Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment has developed a high-level proposal for the inclusion of changes required by the European Union’s Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) in the Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS).

The aim of this targeted consultation is to gather stakeholder feedback on the proposed approach for implementing the NZIA in line with the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1176

The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme is the Government’s main mechanism to deliver renewable electricity generation capacity. ORESS provides support to offshore renewable energy projects through competitive auctions.

ORESS 1 was the first ORESS auction which secured approximately 2.6GW of capacity off Ireland’s East Coast. ORESS Tonn Nua was the State’s second ORESS auction, which procured 900MW of capacity off the South Coast.

The NZIA was adopted by the EU in 2024 to strengthen manufacturing capacity for net-zero technologies within the union, diversify supply chains, and strengthen strategic autonomy in the energy sector.

Article 26 of the NZIA introduces new requirements for renewable energy support schemes. ORESS auctions have so far operated under a price-only mechanism, ensuring cost-efficiency and transparency. However, from 30 December 2025, all relevant auctions must include non-price criteria as a condition to participate in the auction (pre-qualification) or as an award criterion.

These new non-price criteria will need to be integrated into ORESS auction design. Member States retain considerable discretion regarding some of the criteria to include, the design of scoring methodology, the definition of individual factors, the scales applied, and the associated compliance checks.

The closing date for submissions is 5:00pm, 9 October 2026.

Submissions should be sent by email only to oress@dcee.gov.ie

We are committed to engaging with stakeholders in a clear, open and transparent manner. Any person or organisation can make a submission in relation to this consultation.

Your response to this consultation is subject to:

• the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (FOI)
• the Access to Information on the Environment Regulations 2007-2018 (AIE)
• the Data Protection Act 2018

The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment will carefully consider all comments and suggestions received and will publish a consultation response. Given the expected volume and the variety of comments, the Department does not intend to respond to individual submissions but will group responses and provide an overall response to each consultation topic.

We will redact (remove) personal data before publication.

In responding to this consultation, clearly indicate where your response contains any information which you would not wish to be released under FOI, AIE or otherwise published. This can include:

• personal information
• commercially sensitive information
• confidential information

We would like to draw your attention to our Data Privacy Notice which explains:

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• why we do so
• how we treat this information
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