● THIS WEEK
Biomethane asks for the RHO Bill, and gas hits a four-year high.
Three Irish projects show where energy investment is heading. Stream BioEnergy filed an €80m plant in Westmeath to inject 80 GWh of biomethane a year, Rhode LDES filed the substation for Google and Energy Dome's CO₂ battery in Offaly, and Echelon broke ground in Arklow on Ireland's first Green Energy Park, sharing a substation with 800 MW of offshore wind. In Waterford, the council refused Echelon's Kilmeaden campus, built around 16 gas turbines, after finding no evidence of grid capacity or new local renewable supply.
European gas reached its highest price since December 2022 on 14 October, with EU storage about 74% full. The date to carry is 5pm on Friday 30 October, when expressions of interest for the €200m Biomethane Capital Grant Scheme close.
Philip Connolly, EnergyView
01 Stat of the week
IMPORT DEPENDENCY · SEAI
78.2%
Share of Ireland's 2025 energy requirement met by imports, including 82.3% of its natural gas, against an EU average of 57.3% in 2024.
Source · Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), Interim National Energy Balance 2025, cited by RGFI, IrBEA and Cré on 15 October
02 Energy news
● TOP STORY · BIOMETHANE
Biomethane industry asks for RHO certainty as an €80m plant files
Renewable Gas Forum Ireland (RGFI), the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) and Cré, the Composting and Anaerobic Digestion Association of Ireland, called on 15 October for the Renewable Heat Obligation (RHO) legislation to be published with its commencement date, trajectory and market design, alongside a multi-annual investment pathway to 2030 and markets for digestate, recovered nutrients and biogenic CO₂. They also asked that projects already in development are not excluded from the €200m Biomethane Capital Grant Scheme, whose expressions of interest close at 5pm on Friday 30 October.
In Westmeath, Stream BioEnergy Ireland has applied for an €80m plant at The Downs that would process up to 99,000 tonnes a year of food waste, agri-food residues and manures into up to 80 GWh of biomethane for grid injection, enough for up to 7,000 homes. Westmeath County Council expects to decide at the end of November.
15 and 16 October 2026 · Source · Agriland, Westmeath Examiner
● ENERGYVIEW ANALYSIS
The RHO decides what 80 GWh is worth
The number that matters is 80 GWh. A plant that size would supply 1.4% of the 5.7 TWh 2030 target, so the target needs the equivalent of about 70 plants like The Downs. Capital grants and Gas Networks Ireland's Mitchelstown injection facility, which can take up to 700 GWh a year, cover the build and the route to the grid. The demand comes from the RHO, which is why all three industry bodies put its commencement date and trajectory first. What to watch is publication of the RHO Bill, which the Minister said on 16 September was nearing completion, and the grant rate in the formal call after 30 October.
EnergyView analysis of Westmeath Examiner, Agriland and Government figures, October 2026
● DATA CENTRES · PLANNING
Echelon breaks ground in Arklow as Waterford refuses Kilmeaden
Minister Darragh O'Brien broke ground on 15 October at Echelon Data Centres' DUB20 campus in Arklow, Co. Wicklow, the first facility to meet the Green Energy Park criteria in the Government's Large Energy Users Action Plan (LEAP). DUB20 shares a new 220 kV substation with SSE's 800 MW Arklow Bank Wind Park 2 and adds on-site solar of more than 6,000 MWh a year and battery storage, with completion due in 2028 as part of a €4.2bn investment in DUB20 and DUB30. Waterford City and County Council has refused two Echelon subsidiaries permission for a 203 MW data centre campus at Kilmeaden that included 16 gas turbines, the Irish Examiner reported on 16 October. The council said the applicant had not shown sufficient grid capacity, access to new local renewable power or engagement with corporate power purchase agreements, citing the Climate Action Plan 2025 and the Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres.
15 and 16 October 2026 · Source · Echelon Data Centres, reNEWS, Irish Examiner
● STORAGE
Offaly CO₂ battery files for its grid connection
Rhode LDES applied to Offaly County Council on 8 October for a substation extending the Derryiron 110 kV node, the grid connection for its permitted long-duration storage project at Rhode Green Energy Park. The project, developed by Google and Italian CO₂ battery developer Energy Dome with Lumcloon Energy, is sized at 23 MW and 200 MWh, targets completion in 2028 and uses two domes each 500m long, 120m wide and 34m high. A decision is due by 2 December.
How it works. Charging compresses CO₂ drawn from the dome into a liquid at ambient temperature and stores the heat of compression. Discharging reheats the liquid so it expands through a turbine and returns to the dome as gas, in a closed loop with no combustion.
16 October 2026 · Source · Offaly Independent, ESB Emerging Technology Insights 2026
● POLICY · CLIMATE
Climate Council puts industry emissions 15.9% below 2018
The Climate Change Advisory Council's Industry and Waste review, published on 14 October, puts industrial emissions 15.9% below 2018 levels after four consecutive annual falls. The sector provisionally exceeded its 2021 to 2025 emissions ceiling by 9.1%, and the review projects it at 11.6% below 2018 in 2030, the second worst-performing sector after transport against its next ceiling. The Council points to indigenous biomethane to replace fossil fuels in industrial heat, and says the up to €200m in capital supports planned for 2026 to 2030 should draw on lessons from the first scheme.
14 October 2026 · Source · Climate Change Advisory Council, RTÉ, The Irish Times
● REGULATION · RETAIL
CRU makes upfront payments optional in winter repayment plans
The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) set its winter 2026/27 customer protection measures on 12 October, with 322,000 domestic electricity customers and 185,940 gas customers in arrears in April. Upfront payments in repayment plans become optional, customers get 18 months to repay, and suppliers must find practical solutions before referring customers to charities such as the Society of St Vincent de Paul. Existing measures continue, including the 15% cap on prepayment debt recovery and the five-month disconnection moratorium for special services customers. The CRU puts domestic standard tariffs 83% above pre-crisis levels for electricity and 107% for gas.
12 October 2026 · Source · Irish Examiner
● SOLAR · GRANTS
SEAI almost doubles its business solar grant to 45%
SEAI raised its Non-Domestic Microgeneration Grant for solar PV from about 23% to 45% of eligible costs on 6 October, for nine months. It is a direct application with no ranking or tranche wait, against 60% under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) solar measure, where the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) says only one in ten applications are being approved. The IFA also says a gap in battery storage support will hold back farm solar.
6 and 12 October 2026 · Source · IFA, Irish Farmers Journal
● EU · MARKETS
European gas hits a four-year high with storage at 74%
European benchmark gas traded above €85/MWh on 14 and 15 October, its highest level since December 2022, as competition with Asian buyers and reduced Qatari LNG deliveries kept supply tight. EU storage was about 74% full on 13 October, against 83% a year earlier and a five-year average of 89% for the time of year, with Germany near 60%. For Ireland, gas generated 37% of electricity in September on EirGrid's provisional figures.
13 to 15 October 2026 · Source · Gas Infrastructure Europe, ING, Reuters, Irish Farmers Journal
● PLANNING · WIND
Mayo County Council opposes RWE's 13-turbine Erris wind farm
Mayo County Council approved a submission to An Coimisiún Pleanála at its October meeting opposing RWE Renewables Ireland's strategic infrastructure application for 13 turbines, a 110 kV substation and battery storage at Muingmore, Doolough and neighbouring townlands in north Mayo. The council said the site is on lands rated unsuitable in the Renewable Energy Strategy for County Mayo 2026 and would materially contravene the Mayo County Development Plan 2022 to 2026, citing cumulative effects on the Wild Atlantic Way and the heritage landscape. The application drew 251 objections.
18 October 2026 · Source · Western People
Also worth knowing
● Legal & General and NTR closed the first €330m of their Clean Power Transition IV fund on 15 October, with a co-located solar and battery project in Co. Kildare among its first three acquisitions. · ESG Today, Business Post
● Greengate Biogas has applied to An Coimisiún Pleanála for an anaerobic digestion plant in a disused quarry at Powerstown, Co. Carlow, where residents told the Carlow Nationalist on 14 October they were not properly consulted, which the company disputes. · Carlow Nationalist
● Art Generation has applied to Donegal County Council for a battery storage facility between Frosses and Glenties connecting to the Binbane 110 kV substation, and local councillors have asked for an information workshop on fire risk, Donegal Live reported on 14 October. · Donegal Live
● Statkraft's Green Transition Scenarios 2026, published on 13 October, puts data centres at 6% to 9% of EU electricity demand by 2050, against 22% for Irish data centres in 2024 on CRU figures. · Statkraft, CRU
03 Open consultations
30 OCTOBER · FRIDAY · 5PM · 11 DAYS LEFT
DCEE · Biomethane Capital Grant Scheme expression of interest
The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE) wants project details from prospective developers of new biomethane plants and biogas upgrades to shape the first funding call under the €200m scheme. Developers with anaerobic digestion projects in development should respond, and the industry bodies want those projects kept eligible.
Expression of interest · Open · Submit at gov.ie
30 OCTOBER · FRIDAY · 6PM · 11 DAYS LEFT
CRU · Changes to the Supplier Handbook 2026
Proposed changes to the rulebook that sets suppliers' minimum service standards and customer protections. Suppliers and consumer advocacy bodies should respond.
Retail · Open · consult.cru.ie
19 NOVEMBER · THURSDAY · 6.30PM · 31 DAYS LEFT
CRU · Electricity Network Tariff Structure Review, Phase 1
The objectives, principles, scope and high-level design considerations for how electricity network tariffs are structured. Large energy users, storage and generation developers and suppliers should respond, as later phases build on these choices.
Networks · Open · consult.cru.ie
20 NOVEMBER · FRIDAY · 5PM · 32 DAYS LEFT
CRU · EirGrid's Draft Transmission Development Plan 2026 to 2035
The plan sets out the transmission projects and contracted connections EirGrid will progress over the decade, so developers with grid-dependent projects and large energy users should check their nodes and respond.
Transmission · Open · consult.cru.ie
14 DECEMBER · MONDAY · 56 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. Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Energy) on Thursday 29 October. COP31 in Antalya, 9 to 20 November, Ireland leading EU negotiations as Presidency holder.
05 Podcast corner
THIS WEEK'S LISTEN
Down to Agribusiness, Irish Farmers Journal, 16 October
Stephen Robb and Lorcan Roche Kelly cover the €200m biomethane grant scheme, rising gas prices and the latest solar farm refused permission, with Kilkenny Cheese MD Kieran Fitzgerald. Worth it for the farm-side read on the scheme, since farmers hold the feedstock and the land.
Irish Farmers Journal podcast · farmersjournal.ie
Eleven days remain to put Irish biomethane projects in front of DCEE. The answers will shape the first €200m call.
Philip Connolly
Editor · EnergyView