Ireland’s installed solar capacity passes 3GW

Installed solar capacity in Ireland passed 3 GW for the first time, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE) announced on 27 August, counting rooftop and utility-scale together. The milestone follows a grid-scale record of 1,319.23MW set at 11:43 on Monday 24 August, ahead of the previous peak of 1,258.35MW on 11 August. At the moment of the record, solar supplied roughly a third of dispatchable generation on the system.

Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O’Brien said over 8 GW of renewable generation capacity is now connected, about 5 GW of it added in ten years, and confirmed the solar PV grant is funded to 2030. More than 200,000 homes have installed panels, over 120,000 with a grant, and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland took more than 31,000 solar PV applications between January and July, up 76% year on year.

Gas Networks Ireland connects the €30mCollege Group plant at Nobber

Gas Networks Ireland connected College Group’s €30m biomethane facility at Nobber, Co Meath to the national gas network, the second direct connection after Bia Energy’s Huntstown plant on 12 August. The Nobber site runs anaerobic digestion of animal by-products and agri-food waste, with total production capacity of 75 GWh a year. Flogas signed a 26 GWh annual offtake from the plant in July under its Gas Purchase Agreement strategy, aimed mainly at transport. Gas Networks Ireland holds connection agreements with seven biomethane producers against the State target of 5.7 TWh by 2030, about 10% of current gas demand.

Gore Street’s European fund buys 195MW of Irish ready-to-build storage

Gore Street Capital announced the first acquisitions for its GS EU Fund SCSp, and both assets are Irish. The fund took the 120MW/240MWh Kilmannock battery energy storage system and the 75MW/150MWh Mucklagh system, both ready to build, for a combined 195MW and 390MWh. Chief executive Alex O’Cinneide said Ireland stood out for entry pricing, support for two-hour assets and renewable penetration. The fund closed first at the end of 2025 with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and the European Investment Fund as cornerstone investors, targeting €500m.

EU gas storage sits 63% full going into September

EU gas stocks stood at 63% in the last week of August against an 80% average for the period, putting Europe on course into the heating season around a fifth below the five-year average and at the lowest level since 2013. Germany sits near 50% and the Netherlands near 45%, while TTF has traded above €66/MWh, more than double the level at the start of the year. SEB chief commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop described a winter panic running through the market as hopes of the Strait of Hormuz reopening receded.

Irish read-across. Ireland is one of five EU member states with no domestic gas storage, the Southwest Kinsale reservoir having ceased operation in 2017, and 78% of Irish gas came through the Moffat entry point from Britain in 2024. North-west European storage levels and the TTF curve therefore price Irish gas and power directly this winter. The State-led Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve, a floating storage and regasification unit to be owned on behalf of the State by Gas Networks Ireland, is being progressed for the Shannon Estuary.

A Budget 2027energy package is being collated

KPMG is collating a long list of energy affordability options for Government, following a year of work by the National Energy Affordability Taskforce. Measures reported as under examination include a new lower VAT rate for electricity subject to an EU derogation, a Public Service Obligation levy rebate, 100% solar PV grants for households in receipt of fuel supports, and grants for home battery storage. Also on the list are an expanded fuel allowance, targeted retrofits for low-income households and legislation to support energy sharing in the Irish retail market.

The taskforce is examining short-term measures for Budget 2027 alongside longer-term market reform, including an overhaul of carbon tax under which planned annual increases could be reduced or paused.

CRU audit finds 95,000households issued incorrect estimated bills

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) published the results of an audit of domestic electricity billing practices, finding around 95,000 households received incorrect estimated bills and identifying several instances of supplier non-compliance. Suppliers have been directed to improve, with delayed billing and refund handling among the areas flagged. Bord Gáis Energy said it has acted on delayed billing and refund monitoring, and SSE Airtricity has rolled out changes of its own. The audit lands with 328,273 domestic electricity accounts in arrears as of May, the highest in the CRU series.

Renewables supplied half of grid-scale generation in 2025

Central Statistics Office figures published on 24 August put renewable sources at half of all grid-scale electricity generated in 2025. Wind was the largest renewable source and the second largest source overall at 40% of generation, or 11,782 GWh, up 3% on 2024. Gas remained the single largest source at 47%. The release also records electricity imports rising as demand increased over the year.

The Cost of Business Advisory Forum names energy the principalcontributor

The Cost of Business Advisory Forum published its final report on 28 August, naming energy as the principal contributor to rising business costs and setting out 63 recommendations. It asks Government to test the feasibility of a scheme to reduce prices for large energy-intensive users, and to introduce targeted measures on energy price transparency and switching for non-domestic customers, particularly small and medium enterprises. The report also recommends that the CRU mandate be amended so that affordability for non-domestic customers is considered when pass-through cost decisions are taken. The forum was established by Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke and brought together business representative bodies, social partners, regulators and departments.

Centrica joins a £10mSeries A for manganese flow batteries

Centrica invested in a £10m Series A round to commercialise Certain Energy’s manganese flow battery technology, alongside British Business Bank, Ceres and C3H Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health. The round funds deployment work including a grid-connected MWh-class system in India, with chief executive Chris O’Shea framing it around long-duration storage as a condition for a reliable and cost-effective system.

Irish read-across. Ireland’s storage build is overwhelmingly two-hour lithium-ion, so non-lithium long-duration chemistries reaching commercial deployment abroad set the reference point for any future duration-linked procurement here.