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● THIS WEEK
GNI plans for 28% less gas and 5% or less peak-day headroom
Gas Networks Ireland's (GNI) draft Network Development Plan 2025, which the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) opened for consultation on 28 October, has annual gas demand falling 28% by 2034/35 while the 1-in-50 peak day falls just 3%. Even after compressor upgrades lift Moffat's capacity to 475 GWh a day, GNI's peak-day sensitivities leave 5% or less headroom, and its adequacy assessment counts on 18 GWh a day of biomethane by 2034/35.
Bidding in the sixth Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 6) auction opened on 29 October, the first Irish renewables auction to score bids on storage and supply-chain resilience as well as price. In Northern Ireland, RES won consent for a 120 MW, 480 MWh battery, and Monaghan County Council approved a biomethane plant at Drum built to take 99,000 tonnes of poultry manure a year. The date to carry is noon on Thursday 5 November, when RESS 6 bids close.
Philip Connolly, EnergyView
01 Stat of the week
STORAGE SCORE · RESS 6
8 hours
Battery duration a RESS 6 project must exceed to earn the full 7.5 of 100 points for co-located storage, against 1.5 points for a two-hour battery.
Source · Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE), RESS 6 Terms and Conditions, Section 7.7.4, published 16 July 2026
02 Energy news · Top story + 5
● TOP STORY · GAS NETWORKS
Peak-day headroom of 5% or less in GNI's plan, even after the Moffat upgrades
GNI's draft Network Development Plan 2025 leaves 5% or less headroom on a 1-in-50 system peak day in all three of its peak-day sensitivities throughout the decade to 2034/35, even after compressor upgrades in Scotland lift Moffat's technical capacity from 433 to 475 GWh a day before winter 2027/28. The CRU's consultation paper notes that headroom also falls to 5% or less in the Best Estimate scenario, and the upgraded capacity is exceeded by the end of the plan in GNI's High scenario and in the sensitivities with extra large energy user demand or high electricity demand. GNI is designing electric motor driven compressors at Beattock and Brighouse Bay, targeted for completion by the end of 2030, to provide that extra capacity.
Annual gas demand in the Republic of Ireland still falls 28% between 2025/26 and 2034/35 in the Best Estimate, driven by a 50% fall in gas use for power generation, but the 1-in-50 peak day falls only 3%, to 330.1 GWh a day, and gas demand from contracted data centre connections rises from 717 GWh to 2,551 GWh a year. Biomethane reaches 15% of demand by 2034/35, built on seven contracted direct injection projects of about 670 GWh a year, about 700 GWh a year through the Mitchelstown central grid injection facility and a further 1 TWh in application and offer stages.
28 October 2026 · Source · CRU, Gas Networks Ireland
● ENERGYVIEW ANALYSIS
Biomethane is now part of the peak-day sum
On the CRU's summary of GNI's figures, Moffat meets 91.5% of Republic of Ireland peak-day demand by 2034/35, with biomethane at 5.5% and Corrib at 3%. GNI's adequacy assessment assumes biomethane supplies 18 GWh a day by 2034/35, and says a delay, as modelled in its Low scenario, worsens the peak-day position in the sensitivities. That puts the 1 TWh of biomethane in application and offer stages inside the security of supply calculation as well as the decarbonisation one. What to watch is progress on the electric motor driven compressors, now at design and tendering stage, and responses to the CRU's question on network adequacy, which close on 9 December.
EnergyView analysis of GNI draft Network Development Plan 2025 and CRU consultation paper CRU2026178, November 2026
● BIOMETHANE · PLANNING
Monaghan approves Drum biomethane plant as a second draws objections in Westmeath
Monaghan County Council has granted permission for Stream BioEnergy Ireland's renewable biogas plant at Drum, which will process 99,000 tonnes of poultry manure a year along with other agri-food material, Northern Sound reported on 30 October. The plant is designed to produce about 120 GWh of biomethane a year for injection into the gas network at Cootehill, about 3.5 km away, and will need an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) industrial emissions licence. Stream's separate application for an €80m plant at Newdown, The Downs, near Mullingar seeks 10-year permission to process up to 99,000 tonnes a year and produce up to about 80 GWh, and residents opposed to it held a public meeting on 27 October. Together the two plants would supply about 200 GWh a year, around 3.5% of the 5.7 TWh national target for 2030.
27 and 30 October 2026 · Source · Northern Sound, Westmeath Examiner, Irish Farmers Journal, Anglo-Celt
● RENEWABLES · AUCTIONS
RESS 6 bidding opens with storage and resilience in the score
The RESS 6 auction opened for bids at noon on 29 October and closes at noon on Thursday 5 November, with provisional results due on 18 November and final results on 2 December. It is the first RESS round with separate onshore wind and solar pots, and the first to apply EU Net-Zero Industry Act criteria, scoring bids out of 100 with 85 points for price, 5 for supply-chain resilience and up to 10 for energy system integration, 7.5 of them for co-located storage. RESS 5 awarded 853.38 MW of solar and 218.84 MW of onshore wind across 22 projects in 2025 at an average of €98.79/MWh. RESS 6 support runs until 4 March 2046 or 16.5 years after a project's support start date, whichever comes first.
29 October 2026 · Source · EirGrid, DCEE
● STORAGE · NORTHERN IRELAND
RES wins consent for a 480 MWh battery in Co. Antrim
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council's planning committee has approved RES's Ballyross battery energy storage system of up to 120 MW and 480 MWh, the developer's first battery consent in Northern Ireland, reNEWS reported on 26 October. RES expects construction to take about 20 months and says the project will store electricity when generation is high and release it when demand rises, easing constraints on the Northern Ireland network. The same committee approved a separate battery project of 136 storage enclosures on the Ballyvallagh Road outside Larne in mid-October. Both would trade in the all-island Single Electricity Market (SEM), alongside batteries in the Republic.
26 October 2026 · Source · reNEWS, Renewables Now, Northern Ireland World
● EU · ENERGY COUNCIL
Ministers want national room in EU network charges rules
EU energy ministers met in Luxembourg on 29 October with Ministers Darragh O'Brien and Timmy Dooley in the chair for Ireland's Presidency, and discussed winter preparedness, post-2030 energy targets and the proposed regulation on electricity network charges. On network charges, they broadly agreed on the need to cut overall system costs and make better use of existing grids, while asking for more flexibility to set tariff methodologies nationally. The Presidency's third compromise text is due for examination on 10 November, Agence Europe reported on 28 October. In Ireland, the CRU's Electricity Network Tariff Structure Review, Phase 1, closes on 19 November, so national tariff design and the EU rules are being written at the same time.
29 October 2026 · Source · Council of the EU, Irish Presidency, Agence Europe
● EVS · FLEXIBILITY
An Post and DHL depots join EirGrid's flexibility markets
Four EV fleet depots run by An Post in Cork and Galway and DHL Express Ireland in Dublin are now connected to EirGrid's flexibility markets, covering 211 electric vehicles, 181 charge points and up to 500 kW of demand, the partners announced on 28 October. VIOTAS provides market access, eStation and The Mobility House Solutions supply the charging and energy management systems, and Mitsui Ireland and ESB Smart Energy Services are also partners. The depots shift charging away from periods of grid stress while keeping vehicles charged for their routes.
28 October 2026 · Source · Irish Tech News, electrive
Also worth knowing
● The Climate Action Plan for 2026 will go to Cabinet for approval in November, built around 18 priority areas, the Irish Times reported on 27 October. · Irish Times
● Kildare County Council has returned BNRG's application for a 129.8-hectare solar farm with 48 battery containers at Maganey as incomplete after 141 submissions, asking for more on battery fire risk, roads and a GNI pipeline crossing the site, the Kildare Nationalist reported on 28 October. · Kildare Nationalist, Carlow Nationalist
● GNI has applied to the CRU for consent to build a 23.65 km gas transmission pipeline from Kilwarden, Co. Meath, to the Edenderry power station of BnM (formerly Bord na Móna) at Ballykilleen, Co. Offaly, with submissions open from 30 October to 30 November. · CRU
03 Open consultations · 8 open, next closes 13 November
13 NOVEMBER · FRIDAY · 11PM IRISH TIME · 11 DAYS LEFT
European Commission · Nitrates Directive amendment on liquid digestates
Draft act extending RENURE treatment to certain liquid digestates from livestock manure. Anaerobic digestion developers and farm organisations should respond, since spreading rules shape digestate costs.
EU · Open · Have your say portal
19 NOVEMBER · THURSDAY · 6.30PM · 17 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 · 18 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
30 NOVEMBER · MONDAY · 5PM · 28 DAYS LEFT
CRU · Ballykilleen pipeline Section 39A consent application
GNI's application for a 23.65 km underground gas transmission pipeline from Kilwarden, Co. Meath, to BnM's Edenderry power station at Ballykilleen, Co. Offaly. Landowners on the route and parties with an interest in gas supply to the Edenderry site should respond.
Gas · Open · consult.cru.ie
8 DECEMBER · TUESDAY · 36 DAYS LEFT
EirGrid · Tonn Nua grid connection options, Powering Up Offshore South Coast
Emerging options for landfall, offshore cable corridors, offshore substations, grid connection points and onshore cable routes in Cork and Wexford for the 900 MW Tonn Nua area. Coastal communities, landowners and offshore supply chain firms should respond.
Offshore · Open · eirgrid.ie/offshore
9 DECEMBER · WEDNESDAY · 5.30PM · 37 DAYS LEFT
CRU · Gas Networks Ireland Network Development Plan 2025
Ten-year gas supply and demand forecasts to 2034/35, covering biomethane, data centre demand, peak-day headroom and capacity upgrades, and GNI's initial thinking on decommissioning. Biomethane developers, large energy users, gas-fired generators and suppliers should respond.
Gas · Open · consult.cru.ie
14 DECEMBER · MONDAY · 42 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
15 DECEMBER · TUESDAY · 5PM · 43 DAYS LEFT
DfE and DAERA · Biomethane Strategy and Policy Framework for Northern Ireland
The Department for the Economy (DfE) and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) seek views on support design, feedstock and nutrient management for a Northern Ireland biomethane sector. Developers and farm bodies with all-island interests should respond, and anyone with project numbers should also answer the separate DfE request for information, which closes on 19 November.
Northern Ireland · Open · economy-ni.gov.uk
Also open. DCEE on the wholesale gas provisions of Directive (EU) 2024/1788, opened 30 July with no closing date published.
04 Conferences & webinars
7 NOVEMBER · SATURDAY
Nevo Electric Vehicle Show 2026
RDS Simmonscourt. Runs 7 and 8 November.
Two days · Dublin · nevo.ie
9 NOVEMBER · MONDAY
COP31
Antalya, Türkiye. Runs 9 to 20 November, with Ireland leading EU negotiations as Presidency holder.
Two weeks · Antalya · unfccc.int
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 the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, now in its sixth year.
One day · Meath · Details at engineersireland.ie
26 NOVEMBER · THURSDAY
BESS Ireland Seminar
Solarplaza, in partnership with Energy Storage Ireland, at Aloft Dublin City.
One day · Dublin · energystorageireland.com
10 DECEMBER · THURSDAY
Irish Renewable Gas Conference 2026
Croke Park, Dublin. Framed around the 5.7 TWh biomethane target for 2030 and the anaerobic digestion build-out it requires.
One day · Dublin · Details at engineersireland.ie
Hold the dates. Renewable Energy Awards, Dublin Royal Convention Centre, 26 November. EU Energy Council, Brussels, 10 December. Wind Energy Ireland Annual Conference, Clayton Hotel Burlington Road, Dublin, 20 and 21 January 2027.
RESS 6 bids close at noon on Thursday. Provisional results on 18 November will show how much storage wind and solar developers chose to add.
Philip Connolly
Editor · EnergyView