The fifth renewable electricity support scheme of the Republic of Ireland (RESS 5) has concluded, with around 1.08 GW of capacity, the government said in the announcement of the provisional results of the scheme.
The auction secured 218.84 MW of onshore wind capacity and 860.38 MW of solar PV capacity, in total a combined 1,079.22 MW of renewable capacity, spread over 23 projects.
This megawatt (mw) sold figure is already 19.2% lower than the 1,334 MW that was secured in Ress 4 last year (960 MW of Sun and 374 MW Wind)But was still the maximum capacity that Ress 5 intended to secure (when measured by the expected annual generation, from 1500 GWH).
The RESS scheme offers financial support to renewable generators when market prices are low, while generators are obliged to repay money to electricity customers when market prices are high.
The Ress 5 auction had a weighted average price of € 98.81/MWH, a small increase of € 96.85/MWh in Ress 4. The exercise price of SOLAR had fallen by 4% to € 100.63/m
All projects are also required to pay to a Community Benefit Fund (CBF), contributions to which a combined € 45 million (£ 39.4 million) will be in total during the life of the projects.
In its announcement, the Ireland Government said that the results compare well with other recent auctions of renewable energy in Europe, in terms of volume and auction prices sold when adjustments for schedule -specific designs are justified (indexation, contract length, etc.) ‘.
Cornwall Insight from Energy Market Cornwall said that the results of Ress 4 showed good progress, but The country was still ready to miss its goals from 2030 decarbonization.
Darragh O’Brien responded to recent results, Minister of Climate, Energy and the Environment and said:
“These provisional Ress 5 results show that our policy works and will help to maximize the volume of renewable energy sources connected to the electricity grid at the lowest costs for the consumer. The auction results also reflect that solar energy remains the fastest growing renewable electricity bron.
Companies with renewable energy projects that have won contracts in Ress 5 include Harmony Solar, Power Capital Renewable Energy, Ørsted, Elgin, BNRG and Statkraft.
