Ireland extends renewables support scheme qualification due to coronavirus

London — Qualification for Ireland's first Renewable Electricity Support Scheme auction has been extended by a month to April 30 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Environment has said.

A revised auction timetable is to be published by system operator Eirgrid no later than April 30, it said.

The extension was needed "in light of unprecedented challenges being experienced by RESS Applicants resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic," the department said.

The extension is likely to lead to a delay to the planned auction start in June, and its completion date of July 7.

The auction is to deliver up to a 3 TWh/year increase in renewable electricity generation by the end of 2022.

A minimum of four auctions are then to occur between 2020 and 2027 to deliver on 2030 targets, opening a path for offshore wind projects.

The scheme is open to solar PV, bioenergy and wind (onshore and offshore). A single technology cap is to be applied in the 2020 auction (as a percentage of volumes awarded), and possibly in auctions thereafter, to promote diversity.

It is proposed to use a Floating Feed-in Premium as the means of support, with a single clearing or strike price arrived at in the auctions.

Floating FIPs made to generators would be a function of generation output, the strike price, and a reference market price. The reference market price is to be based on the day-ahead electricity price in the I-SEM single electricity market of the island of Ireland.

Ireland has around 3,500 MW of renewable electricity capacity. The country's National Development Plan indicates a need to deliver a further 4,500 MW (onshore wind equivalent) by 2030 to achieve a target of 70% renewables in the electricity mix.