Ireland’s highest ever grid-scale solar output, just before 1pm on Tuesday 11 August. Solar met roughly a third of national electricity use at that moment.

Bia Energy connects the first plant directly to the gas network

Gas Networks Ireland connected Bia Energy’s €90m anaerobic digestion facility at Huntstown, Co Dublin, to the national gas network on 12 August, the first direct biomethane injection in the State. At full capacity the plant is expected to deliver up to 120 GWh of biomethane a year.

Gas Networks Ireland built a network extension and a new entry facility for the connection, and holds agreements with six further producers. Bia Energy, part of the Sretaw group, received almost €3.9m under the National Biomethane Strategy Capital Grant Scheme, and says the site will displace 3,000 tonnes of chemical fertiliser a year through digestate.

120 GWh is 2.1% of the 5.7 TWh biomethane target for 2030. Bia Energy is the first of seven producers holding connection agreements with Gas Networks Ireland, and the €19m issued in July under the 2024 capital grant scheme went to those same seven projects.

Watch the interval between Huntstown’s connection agreement and its first injection. It is the only Irish data point on how long that sequence runs, and the projects behind it will be planned against it. The next markers are the expression of interest round at the end of Q3 and registry issuance from January 2027.

Expression of interest process opens at end of Q3 for the next grant round

The next round of capital grants for biomethane plants will begin with an expression of interest process expected at the end of Q3 2026. Government began issuing €19m in July to the seven projects successful under the 2024 Biomethane Capital Grant Scheme, Bia Energy among them.

9.4% of July’s fuel mix came from grid-scale solar

EirGrid provisional data published 11 August put grid-scale solar at 9.4% of the July fuel mix, a monthly record, up from 8.2% in June and 5.7% in July 2025. Renewables overall reached 32.3%, against 32% in July 2025, as wind fell from 24.1% to 22.4% and generated 614 GWh. Gas supplied 43% and interconnection 24%, on system demand of 2,744 GWh.

Grid-scale solar then fell from 532 MW at 6.15pm on 12 August to 202 MW by 6.45pm and 8 MW at the height of the eclipse thirty minutes later, recovering to 83 MW by 7.45pm. EirGrid says the power system can now operate with up to 75% of electricity from variable renewables at any one time, with work under way to raise that to 95%.

CRU sets financial penalties at up to 10% of turnover

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities published its Financial Penalty Framework on 11 August, setting out how it will calculate penalties where regulated energy entities engage in improper conduct. Under the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 the CRU may impose penalties of up to 10% of a regulated entity’s turnover, subject to High Court confirmation.

The framework covers electricity and gas suppliers, network operators and interconnector operators, and combines a pre-determined calculation with discretion on the facts of each case. Timely remediation and compensation are treated as mitigating factors. The National Energy Affordability Taskforce Action Plan is due to government in September.

SSE secures consent for the Mullafarry battery project

Mayo County Council granted planning consent on 13 August for SSE’s revised plans at its proposed Mullafarry Battery Energy Storage System in north Mayo.

Separately, Grid System Services has applied to Roscommon County Council for a 44-block energy storage system at Ballaghaderreen, with a decision expected this week and more than 300 objections lodged.

48 projects and 2,668 MW await planning decisions

Wind Energy Ireland said on 11 August that 48 projects representing 2,668 MW of capacity are awaiting planning decisions. Five wind projects were approved in the second quarter of 2026, the highest quarterly total since the first quarter of 2025.

Heart Aerospace flies an 11,340 kg aircraft on batteries alone

Heart Aerospace’s X1 demonstrator completed its first flight on 12 August at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York, 27 minutes at up to 335 m on battery power alone. Takeoff weight was about 11,340 kg across a 32.3 m wingspan, making it the largest battery-electric aircraft flown to date. The propulsion system delivered more than 1 MW, and the company put the electricity cost of the flight at about five dollars.

X1 is a full-scale demonstrator for the ES-30, a 30-seat hybrid-electric regional aircraft with a stated 200 km all-electric range and entry into service targeted for 2031. EnergyView mapped that range from Dublin Airport. The 200 km radius covers almost the whole island. A 300 km battery upgrade adds Belfast, Derry and the western seaboard but leaves every London airport outside the battery-only band, at 464 km and up. Full workings and the radius map in this week’s carousel.

Mansoor, President and chief executive of the Electric Power Research Institute, argues over how much electricity AI will actually need, whether hyperscaler capital expenditure is justified, and how greater flexibility could let data centres connect faster without overwhelming the grid. The passages on public acceptance and on the role of nuclear are the ones that travel.