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● This week Budget 2027’s energy package, and 39% for lifting the nuclear ban.Budget 2027 is on Tuesday 6 October, and the Business Post reports that the Government is building a broad energy package into it. New clean energy grants and tax reductions are in scope for budget day, along with a wider fuel allowance net. For the medium term, the Government is weighing a lower VAT rate on electricity, which would need EU agreement, and a new debt structure to take grid investment costs off consumer bills. Grid capacity also featured in a planning refusal. An Coimisiún Pleanála turned down a 50 MW data centre in Co. Mayo, citing the lack of a fixed grid connection agreement and conflict with the Climate Action Plan 2025. The number to carry is 39. That is the percentage of rural adults who would support lifting Ireland’s nuclear ban, against 37% opposed. Philip Connolly, EnergyView |
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Top story · Policy Government readies a wide-ranging energy package for Budget 2027The Government is preparing a wide-ranging energy package for Budget 2027 on Tuesday 6 October, with new clean energy grants, tax reductions and a broader fuel allowance net, the Business Post reported. Two measures are being weighed for the medium term, a new lower VAT rate on electricity that would need EU agreement, and a new debt structure for grid investment designed to take that cost off consumer bills. The energy measures sit inside an overall €8.5bn budget package, €7bn in additional spending and €1.5bn in tax measures, with universal energy credits already ruled out. 20 September 2026 · Source · Business Post, The Irish Times Storage Ireland’s flexibility needs run longer than peak events, CRU assessment findsThe Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), EirGrid and ESB Networks will take industry through Ireland’s first Flexibility Needs Assessment at a workshop in Dublin on Tuesday 20 October. The assessment, published on 24 August under the methodology approved by the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), covers system, transmission and distribution needs for 2028 and 2030. It finds that much of the future need will fall across longer periods rather than short peaks, which makes longer-duration solutions more important. The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE) sets an indicative national objective for non-fossil flexibility in 2027, with the assessment as part of its evidence base. 18 September 2026 · Source · CRU Security of supply Temporary emergency generation retained to winter 2028/29 at €229mThe CRU directed EirGrid to use existing contract options and keep the Temporary Emergency Generation units through the winters of 2027/28 and 2028/29, with the consent of the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment. The decision follows updated EirGrid adequacy assessments that found the capacity shortfall persists across both winters. The estimated additional cost is €229m, €177m for the first tranche of units and about €52m for the second, with a residential tariff impact of between €0.79 and €14.96 a year across tariff years 2026/27 to 2029/30. The units, about 650 MW across four sites, run only when market-based resources are unavailable, and the CRU says they remain temporary. 18 September 2026 · Source · CRU, Business Post Grid An Coimisiún Pleanála refuses 50 MW Mayo data centre on grid and climate groundsAn Coimisiún Pleanála has refused permission for Mayo Data Hub’s data centre at Killala, Co. Mayo, overturning Mayo County Council’s April 2025 grant on appeal. The commission found the applicant had not shown a fixed grid connection agreement or enough grid capacity, and had offered no on-site renewables, no corporate power purchase agreement and no route to use north Mayo’s wind output. It also found the project would not accord with the Climate Action Plan 2025, citing greenhouse gas effects from fossil-fuelled generation, with gas and biodiesel backup generators proposed. The €1.5bn project, backed by US-based Avaio Digital, was to draw 50 MW of average power. 17 September 2026 · Source · RTÉ, The Irish Times, The Journal Solar Power Capital launches its 290 MW RESS 2 solar portfolioPower Capital Renewable Energy officially launched its 290 MW portfolio of seven utility-scale solar farms at Mainscourt Solar Farm, Ballyboughal, bringing its portfolio closer to 1 GW. All seven won contracts in the 2022 Renewable Electricity Support Scheme auction, RESS 2, and were financed in January 2025 with close to €220m of facilities from AIB, Bank of Ireland and Société Générale. RESS 2 projects must reach commercial operation by 31 December 2026. 17 September 2026 · Source · South East Radio, Solarbytes, TechCentral Offshore wind Arklow Bank Phase 1 heads for decommissioning after two decadesArklow Energy has applied to An Coimisiún Pleanála to decommission Arklow Bank Wind Park Phase 1, a seven-turbine array 10 km off the Co. Wicklow coast that opened in 2005 as Ireland’s first offshore wind farm, with around 25.2 MW of export capacity. The turbines stopped exporting to the grid two years ago on safety grounds, and the operator warns the risk to shipping will grow if the degrading components stay in place. Company accounts show cumulative revenues of €133m over the project’s operating life. 15 September 2026 · Source · The Irish Times Nuclear DCEE puts Irish nuclear generation in the 2040s at the earliestDCEE told the Irish Examiner that nuclear power could not realistically feature in Ireland’s electricity system before the 2040s, because the regulatory system it would need does not yet exist. Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor’s bill to repeal the 1999 ban, introduced in May, is expected to be debated in the coming Dáil term. The poll behind this week’s stat found support weakest among younger rural adults, at 29% of 16 to 24 year olds, against 46% of 35 to 49 year olds. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has commissioned a technical study of 30 potential decarbonisation technologies, nuclear among them. 15 September 2026 · Source · Irish Examiner EVs EZO lines up €150m of debt for 3,000 charge pointsEZO, the Maynooth-based charge point operator formerly known as EasyGo, agreed a €150m investment-grade, non-recourse senior debt facility on 17 September. The facility funds more than 3,000 charge points with over 100 MW of combined capacity across Ireland and the UK, with Aberdeen and Standard Life among the lenders. The company is eyeing a potential stock market listing in 2028, the Irish Independent reported. 17 September 2026 · Source · Irish Independent, Arthur Cox EU · EVs Battery electric cars pass 30% of new sales across EuropeBattery electric vehicles took 30.5% of new car registrations across 16 European markets in August, with 202,833 registered, up 54.2% on August 2025. Registrations for January to August reached 1.67 million, up 33.1%, for a year-to-date share of 22.5%. The figures come from E-Mobility Europe, New AutoMotive and Fier Automotive, published on 17 September. In Ireland, battery electric cars took 27% of new private cars licensed from January to August, up from 18% a year earlier, on Central Statistics Office licensing data. 17 September 2026 · Source · RTÉ, E-Mobility Europe, CSO EU · Regulation European energy regulators meet in Dublin on grids and billsACER and the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) brought regulators from 26 EU member states to Croke Park on 15 and 16 September under Ireland’s EU Presidency. The agenda centred on the European Grids Package and network charges legislation, alongside customer protection reports on clearer bills, switching and price comparison. In Ireland, the CRU expects electricity demand to grow by around 45% over the next decade, alongside a target of 80% renewable electricity by 2030. 16 September 2026 · Source · CRU Also worth knowing
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Also open. DCEE on the wholesale gas provisions of Directive (EU) 2024/1788, opened 30 July with no closing date published. |
Hold the dates. Budget 2027 on Tuesday 6 October. Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Energy) on Thursday 29 October. COP31 in Antalya, 9 to 20 November, Ireland leading EU negotiations as Presidency holder. |
Rural voters are narrowly more for lifting the nuclear ban than against it. The Department puts the earliest date it could matter in the 2040s. Philip ConnollyEditor · EnergyView |
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