● THIS WEEK
A carbon tax cut in Budget 2027, and €200m opens for biomethane.
Budget 2027 on 6 October cut the carbon tax on kerosene and natural gas to €48.50 a tonne and gave the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment €1.28bn for 2027, including a record €654.5m for home and community energy upgrades. Two days later, Minister Darragh O’Brien opened expressions of interest for the €200m Biomethane Capital Grant Scheme, which will fund anaerobic digestion plants in rounds to 2030.
Renewables supplied 43% of electricity in September, and 54% more new electric cars were licensed than a year earlier. The date to carry is 5pm on Friday 30 October, when biomethane expressions of interest close.
Philip Connolly, EnergyView
01 Stat of the week
FUEL MIX · EIRGRID
43% renewable
Share of Ireland’s electricity from renewable sources in September, against 42% a year earlier. Wind generated 1,015 GWh, up from 920 GWh, as system demand rose 5% to 2,857 GWh.
Source · EirGrid provisional fuel mix data for September 2026, reported 9 October
02 Energy news
● TOP STORY · BIOMETHANE
€200m biomethane grant scheme opens for expressions of interest
The €200m Biomethane Capital Grant Scheme opened for expressions of interest on 8 October, with funding secured through the updated National Development Plan. Developers of new biomethane plants, and of upgrades from biogas to biomethane, can submit project details until 5pm on Friday 30 October. The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE) will run funding rounds from 2026 to 2030 and plans to open the formal application process in the weeks after it reviews the responses. Submission is optional, and DCEE will use the responses to refine the scheme’s design.
8 October 2026 · Source · DCEE, Agriland, Irish Farmers Journal, Arthur Cox
● ENERGYVIEW ANALYSIS
The grant rate decides how far €200m goes
The number that matters is the grant rate. The 2024 round, run by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), paid 20% of capital cost up to €5m per project, and seven plants have since received almost €19m. On those terms €200m would back at least 40 plants. DCEE said in August that the grant rate, the cap and payment milestones would all be reviewed.
For a developer, the expression of interest is the chance to put capital cost, feedstock and connection evidence in front of DCEE before the call terms are set. Capital grants lower the cost of building plants. The Renewable Heat Obligation (RHO) sets the demand, and the Minister said on 16 September that drafting of the RHO Bill is at an advanced stage and nearing completion. What to watch is the grant rate in the formal call after 30 October, and the publication of the RHO Bill.
EnergyView analysis of DCEE, DAFM and Agriland figures, October 2026
● POLICY · BUDGET 2027
Budget 2027 cuts the carbon tax on kerosene and gas to €48.50 a tonne
Budget 2027, published on 6 October, sets the carbon tax on kerosene and natural gas at €48.50 per tonne of CO₂, down from €63.50, for the lifetime of this Government, while petrol and diesel rise from €71 to €78.50 a tonne on 1 May 2027. On EnergyView’s calculation from Revenue rates, the cut takes about €43 off the tax on a 1,000-litre kerosene fill, including VAT at 13.5%. DCEE gets €1.28bn for 2027, including a record €654.5m for Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) home and community upgrade schemes, which fund the new €2,000 boiler scrappage grant and €600 home battery grant. Universal electricity credits are not part of this Budget.
6 October 2026 · Source · Department of Finance, DCEE, Revenue
● EVS
VRT relief on electric cars extended to the end of 2028
The €5,000 Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) relief on battery electric cars, due to end on 31 December 2026, now runs to 31 December 2028 under Budget 2027, and VRT rises by 1% on cars above 80 g/km of CO₂ from 1 January 2027. Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures published on 9 October show 3,074 new private electric cars licensed in September, up 54% on September 2025. Electric cars made up 28% of new private cars licensed from January to September, up from 19% in the same period of 2025.
6 and 9 October 2026 · Source · Department of Finance, CSO
● BIOMETHANE · NETWORKS
Teagasc asks GNI for clear injection costs in its 2027 to 2032 plan
Teagasc has called for greater recognition of the practical and economic challenges of building anaerobic digestion plants and securing their feedstock, in its submission on Gas Networks Ireland’s (GNI) draft business plan for Price Control 6 (PC6), which covers 2027 to 2032. It wants GNI to provide clear cost estimates and define the requirements for safe, cost-effective on-site injection points, alongside more investment in production and injection infrastructure. GNI’s consultation on the draft closed on 30 September, and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) expects to publish its draft PC6 determination in summer 2027.
9 October 2026 · Source · Irish Farmers Journal, Gas Networks Ireland, CRU
● BIOMETHANE · TRANSPORT
FrieslandCampina plans to run half its milk trucks on biomethane
FrieslandCampina plans to switch around half of its milk collection fleet in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany to trucks running on bio-CNG, some of it made from manure, Agriland reported on 10 October. Barver Landmilch, a member farm in Lower Saxony, runs its own manure digester with on-site refuelling, so collection trucks can fill up where they load milk. In Ireland, the GRAZE gas project led by GNI offers €750,000 in grants to fund up to 75 new gas vehicles for hauliers and fleet operators moving from diesel to bio-CNG.
10 October 2026 · Source · Agriland, FrieslandCampina
● PLANNING · WIND
An Coimisiún Pleanála refuses RWE’s Shancloon wind farm on bog and karst grounds
An Coimisiún Pleanála refused permission on 21 September for RWE Renewables Ireland’s 11-turbine Shancloon wind farm near Tuam, Co. Galway, an application lodged in September 2025 under the Renewable Energy Directive III (RED III) route and reported locally from 5 October. The order cites insufficient peatland evidence for a floated access road at the edge of Cloonbar Bog, where active raised bog is an Annex I priority habitat. It also found that, without an integrated hydrogeological model for a karst site, effects on the Lough Corrib and Shrule Turlough Special Areas of Conservation could not be ruled out. The turbines were rated at 5.6 to 6.6 MW each.
21 September 2026 · Source · An Coimisiún Pleanála, Tuam Herald, Connacht Tribune
● PLANNING · SOLAR
Kerry County Council refuses solar and battery scheme near Tralee
Kerry County Council refused permission on 5 October for BNRG Laccamore’s solar farm and battery storage scheme on a 152.6-hectare site between Abbeydorney and Kilflynn, near Tralee, citing flooding, local roads and construction noise. The plans covered almost 450,000 m² of panels and 28 battery storage containers, with a 40-year operating life. The application gave no megawatt figure, with output to be set after a grid connection agreement, and the 110 kV substation was to go to An Coimisiún Pleanála separately.
5 October 2026 · Source · Irish Examiner
● EU · MARKETS
Von der Leyen rules out blanket energy handouts as gas prices rise 140%
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on 6 October that gas prices have risen 140% since the end of February, adding about €100bn to the EU’s fossil fuel import bill, and that support should be targeted rather than paid as blanket handouts. She put electricity at around €145/MWh in a member state where gas mostly sets the price, against around €70/MWh where nuclear and renewables do, and announced a working group to pool demand for joint energy purchasing. For Ireland, gas generated 37% of electricity in September, and Ireland, which holds the EU Council Presidency until December, leads the Council’s work on the grids package she wants agreed by the end of the year.
6 October 2026 · Source · European Commission, Irish Independent
Also worth knowing
● Plans have been lodged for a biogas plant at The Downs, Co. Westmeath, to inject biomethane into the gas network, with output equal to the annual gas demand of about 7,000 homes, the Westmeath Topic reported on 7 October. · Westmeath Topic
● An appeal has been lodged with An Coimisiún Pleanála against a battery energy storage system that forms part of a proposed data centre development in Co. Waterford, alongside a solar farm of more than 43,000 panels, RTÉ reported on 10 October. · RTÉ, Irish Independent
● Energy distributor DCC Energy agreed on 9 October to sell its technology division, Nexora, to One Equity Partners for $725m. · RTÉ
03 Open consultations
30 OCTOBER · FRIDAY · 5PM · 18 DAYS LEFT
DCEE · Biomethane Capital Grant Scheme expression of interest
Project details from prospective developers of new biomethane plants and biogas upgrades, used to shape the first funding call under the €200m scheme. Developers with anaerobic digestion projects in development should respond, even though submission is optional.
Expression of interest · Open · Submit at gov.ie
14 DECEMBER · MONDAY · 63 DAYS LEFT
European Commission · Minimum performance standards for data centres
Call for evidence and public consultation on EU-wide standards that build on the new rating scheme. Operators and developers with Irish sites, and heat network promoters, should respond.
EU · Open · Carried from No. 020
Also open. DCEE on the wholesale gas provisions of Directive (EU) 2024/1788, opened 30 July with no closing date published.
04 Conferences & webinars
20 OCTOBER · TUESDAY
Flexibility Needs Assessment industry workshop
CRU, EirGrid and ESB Networks at the Herbert Park Hotel, Ballsbridge. A walk-through of the 2028 and 2030 needs and the market and regulatory barriers the assessment identifies. Free.
10am to 2pm · Dublin · Register at cru.ie
21 OCTOBER · WEDNESDAY
Renewable Energy Expo Ireland 2026
RDS Dublin. Wind Energy Ireland, Solar Ireland and Energy Storage Ireland together for the first time. Registration is open.
Two days · Dublin · Register at windenergyireland.com
7 NOVEMBER · SATURDAY
Nevo Electric Vehicle Show 2026
RDS Simmonscourt. Runs 7 and 8 November.
Two days · Dublin · nevo.ie
18 NOVEMBER · WEDNESDAY
H2 Summit 2026
Hydrogen Ireland and the Clean Hydrogen Partnership at Fota Island Resort, Cork. Runs 18 and 19 November, with optional site visits on the morning of 18 November.
Two days · Cork · hydrogenireland.org
24 NOVEMBER · TUESDAY
National Retrofitting Conference 2026
Johnstown Estate, Co. Meath. Run in partnership with SEAI, now in its sixth year.
One day · Meath · Details at engineersireland.ie
Hold the dates. European Council on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 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.
€200m is now open to Irish anaerobic digestion projects. What developers submit by 30 October will shape the first call.
Philip Connolly
Editor · EnergyView