Storage takes the week.
Ireland's first commercial CO₂-battery contract landed in Offaly, the EU signed a storage compact, and the UK set out how it will fund long-duration storage, all in seven days. EirGrid published a five-year grid strategy, one infrastructure bill completed its passage and a second reached the Dáil, and the biomethane capital-grant picture firmed up.
Ireland takes the EU Council Presidency on 1 July. Fourteen pieces, plus the consultations, the jobs and the diary.
Google signs the first commercial CO₂-battery contract for Offaly
Energy Dome and Google have entered a bilateral commercial agreement for a 23 MW / 200 MWh CO₂ Battery near Rhode, Co Offaly, on the site of the former Rhode peat power station, co-developed with Lumcloon Energy and owned and operated by Energy Dome. The project already holds land, conditional planning consent and a grid connection, and follows a 19 MW / 200 MWh project in Arizona with Google and the utility SRP. A second 200 MWh unit is planned at the site, with first power expected in 2028.
Inside a CO₂ battery
Energy Dome stores electricity as pressure and heat in a sealed CO₂ loop, with no lithium and nothing vented to the air.
The Commission signs a first tripartite agreement on storage
The European Commission signed its first EU tripartite agreement on energy storage on 26 June, alongside the energy ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, with 22 member states committing to support 30 to 35 GW of new capacity over two years. Member states will let national regulators set cost-reflective network tariffs that reward flexibility, and the Commission will coordinate and monitor delivery to 2028. The EU is estimated to need around 200 GW of storage by 2030, against roughly 55 GW today; the EIB Group is backing the initiative.
Ofgem backs 7.6 GW under its long-duration cap-and-floor
Ofgem set out a minded-to Window 1 decision under its cap-and-floor scheme for long-duration electricity storage, backing 16 of 73 eligible projects totalling about 7.645 GW and 136.9 GWh, with durations spanning 8 to 22 hours. Three pumped-hydro schemes hold around 64% of the energy capacity, while lithium-ion batteries make up most of the projects, at 8 to 18-hour durations averaging about 13 hours. Under cap-and-floor, consumers top up revenues that fall below a floor, while revenues above a cap return through network charges. The consultation closes 7 August.
Octopus launches a home-battery range across five markets
Octopus Energy launched its own home-battery range, the Nook, at its Energy Tech Summit on 22 June, pairing a shoebox-sized 2 kWh plug-in unit for renters and apartments (the Nook Cube, stackable to 10.5 kWh) with a wall-mounted system for homeowners (the Nook Colossus, in 5 kWh and 10 kWh models, stackable to 30 kWh). Both are solar-compatible, carry a 12-year warranty, and are built to store power when prices are low for use at peak. The company says it is the first major UK supplier to sell its own home batteries directly, with availability in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and France from 2027. Octopus does not supply households in the Republic of Ireland, and the Nook markets do not include Ireland, where household electricity prices remain among the highest in the EU and a residential battery support scheme has been signalled but is not yet in place.
EirGrid sets out a five-year strategy
EirGrid launched its Group Corporate Strategy 2026 in Cork, around four pillars: keeping Ireland powered, building the backbone for growth, transforming for clean energy, and unlocking new frontiers in offshore and interconnection. It sets out 381 transmission projects over five years, 29 of them priority projects, and targets a system able to run on up to 95% renewables by 2030 and 100% by 2035, integrating 500 MW of long-duration storage, with the North South Interconnector expected to be commissioned in 2031. The strategy sits against the CRU's Price Review 6 network investment framework of up to €18.9bn for 2026 to 2030, up from €7.6bn.
The Critical Infrastructure Bill is enacted
The Critical Infrastructure Bill was signed by the President and enacted, allowing the Government to designate projects as critical infrastructure and trigger a fast-track approval process under which public bodies must prioritise them, reduce timelines and run processes in parallel. It identifies energy, transport and water as priority sectors, and disapplies section 15 of the Climate Act for designated projects while stating that nothing in it affects the State's obligations under EU law. The Minister is also given power to direct public bodies. (Bill No. 37/2026.)
The Strategic Gas Reserve Bill reaches the Dáil
The Development (Strategic Gas Reserve) Bill 2026 was debated in the Dáil this week. It would let the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment approve development and operation of a strategic gas reserve for emergency supply, disapplying the Planning and Development Acts 2000 and 2024 and certain Birds and Natural Habitats Regulations provisions for the development, while giving effect to specified EU directive articles. The reserve is planned as a floating storage and regasification unit at Cahiracon on the Shannon Estuary, developed by Gas Networks Ireland. Opposition TDs criticised the planning exemptions during the debate, while Government TDs defended the measure on security-of-supply grounds.
The Climate Action Plan turns more delivery-focused
The Secretary General of the Department of the Climate, Energy and the Environment, Oonagh Buckley, told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy on 17 June that the next update to the Climate Action Plan will be a more strategic and delivery-focused document, setting out high-level, multi-annual actions rather than annual plan-making, in line with feedback from the EPA and the Climate Change Advisory Council on the need for faster implementation. She said the update had been delayed by the Carbon Budget Programme timeline and by analysis of progress and barriers reports, and that the Minister now chairs a Climate Action Delivery Board of Secretaries General, supported by a new Climate Action Plan Programme Board. The public consultation on the next update is open until mid-August.
Biomethane Day Ireland draws 300+ delegates
More than 300 delegates attended the second Biomethane Day Ireland at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin, on 24 June, opened by the Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy, Darragh O'Brien, who confirmed that the up-to-€200m biomethane capital grant scheme will be announced shortly. Sessions covered regulation, permitting, project delivery and Ireland's progress against other European markets. The national target remains up to 5.7 TWh of biomethane by 2030.
The biomethane capital grant will not be retrospective
The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment confirmed that the forthcoming biomethane capital-grant scheme, worth up to €200m under the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund, will not be retrospective, aiming to open in Q3 2026 with funding rounds to 2030. Grant rates are expected to exceed the 20% offered under the 2024 scheme, which supported 18 projects. Separately, the Renewable Heat Obligation indigenous multiplier was found incompatible with EU internal-market rules, and the Department is proceeding with the RHO without it.
The EBA presses for faster European scale-up
At a European Energy Forum debate in the European Parliament with the EBA, GRDF and Cefic, the European Biogas Association cited EU-27 production potential of up to 163 to 184 bcm by 2050 and average plant utilisation near 70%, naming higher utilisation, simpler feedstock access, easier grid access and faster permitting as the levers. Its Biomethane Map 2026 is due on 1 July.
Ireland takes the Council Presidency as the Grids Package moves to trilogue
Ireland assumes the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 July for six months, its first since 2013. The handover coincides with the EU Electricity Grids Package: energy ministers reached a Council position on 26 June, with the European Parliament's industry committee due to vote on 1 July ahead of trilogues under the Irish Presidency. The package covers digital permitting portals, an overriding-public-interest presumption for grid projects, tacit-approval timelines and a TEN-E recast.
The Department raised concerns over CRU staffing
The Department of Public Expenditure raised objections to a proposal to allocate up to around 190 additional staff to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, according to records reported by RTÉ. Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan commented on the regulator's resourcing against its expanding remit.
Ionity's top charging rate hits 85c/kWh
Ionity will move to a top rate of 85c per kWh. On a car using 16 kWh per 100 km, that works out at €13.60 per 100 km, the same cost as running a diesel at about €1.94 a litre, above the current pump price. That figure is the top of the market, though. Other networks including Tesla and ESB's ecars price below it, and most charging is done at home, where night-rate tariffs are a fraction of public fast-charging. Ionity cited gas prices and general cost pressures.
Grid operations. EirGrid issued a system alert (formerly an amber alert) during the late-June warm spell, as low wind output met higher demand; it was subsequently lifted.
Markets. The CSO's Wholesale Price Index recorded energy product prices up about 37% in the year to May 2026.
Markets. Greencoat Renewables began the second tranche of a €25m share buyback.
Renewables. Planning approval was granted for three solar farms in Co Cork.
International. Ember joined 40-plus organisations launching the ElectrifyNow electrification campaign.
John Kerry on the deals the US makes and breaks
Recorded live at London Climate Action Week, the latest Cleaning Up has Michael Liebreich in conversation with former US Secretary of State and climate envoy John Kerry, on the diplomacy behind the Paris Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal and what rebuilding trust in US leadership would take. For an energy audience the sharp end is the petrostate-versus-electrostate read on a shifting US-China balance in clean energy. Worth the listen.