Ireland

EirGrid, the transmission system operator (TSO) for the Republic of Ireland, has launched a consultation outlining how it will procure its first long-duration energy storage (LDES) capacity.

The Solar PV Scheme for Medically Vulnerable Customers covers all homeowners dependent on electrically powered medical equipment regardless of their energy supplier. It includes a 2 kW solar PV system and around 470 homes have benefited to date.

For its 2026 budget, the Irish government will allocate a record €558 million ($648.1 million) for home and community energy upgrade grants, including the popular microgeneration scheme for residential PV, and extend the €400 income tax exemption for microgeneration profits until 2028 to help lower energy bills.

Ireland’s fifth onshore renewable energy auction provisionally allocated 860 MW of solar with the final average price for PV coming in at €0.10063/kWh. ($0.12/kWh).

Commenting on its report on Ireland and Great British renewable energy curtailment, Montel Energy’s Fintan Devenney described Great Britain’s solar curtailment as “negligible” during the first six months of 2025. Solar curtailment in Ireland has increased sevenfold since 2022, the report found.

Activ8 Energies, 50% owned by SSE Airtricity, has acquired all shares of UK-based Low Carbon Energy (LCE) to strengthen its commercial and industrial (C&I) solar portfolio in the United Kingdom.

The integrated system is claimed to efficiently provide dynamic load balancing, while supporting demand-side management and future smart grid applications. The heat pump technology comes from Mitsubishi’s Ecodan, Mr. Slim, and M heat pump series, which Evhacs modified for integration with the EV charger. 

Wood MacKenzie predicts that Ireland will meet its 8 GW 2030 solar target but wind, heat pumps, and electric vehicles (EVs) are all lagging behind theirs. Ireland’s current installed solar capacity is just under 2 GW, but this could be increased thanks to favorable policy, grid investments, and energy storage.

Ireland’s €3.5 billion ($4.1 billion) package is the largest single investment in the national electricity grid in the state’s history. It will be allocated as equity to the transmission systems operator EirGrid and the distribution systems operator ESB Networks.

Large energy users like data centers and manufacturers could gain expedited access to at least 500 MW of solar deemed ‘ready to proceed’ under the new, ‘more enabling’ private wires framework, said Solar Ireland CEO Ronan Power. The updated policy targets national grid congestion, particularly acute near the capital where data centers are concentrated.