Ireland opens its EU Council Presidency on an electrification agenda

Minister Darragh O'Brien set out a vision for electrification as Ireland assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July, with electrification, energy security, and home-grown renewable power named as the energy priorities for the six-month term. The launch event, Electrifying Ireland: A Shared Vision for the Future, was held at ESB's Ardnacrusha hydroelectric station, where Wind Energy Ireland Chief Executive Noel Cunniffe joined Ministers O'Brien and Timmy Dooley alongside the International Energy Agency, ENTSO-E, and EirGrid. Ardnacrusha, which underpinned the electrification of the State from 1929, was used to frame Ireland's next phase around electrification and indigenous renewable power.

O'Brien defends data centres as strategic infrastructure

Writing in the Business Post, Minister for Transport, Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O'Brien made the case that data centres are strategic industrial infrastructure rather than a burden on the grid. He put the sector at roughly 22 percent of national electricity use and argued the better measure is the value that power generates, citing an estimated €104bn of gross value added enabled by data centre-dependent sectors in 2024, about 20 percent of the economy, alongside 170,000 ICT jobs and 19,000 in data centre operations. His stated aim is to manage demand rather than curb investment. He set that in a European frame, noting that advanced economies typically devote around 24 percent of total energy consumption to industry, much of it still fossil-heavy, so an energy-intensive base is a normal feature of a developed economy rather than an Irish anomaly.

On delivery he pointed to the Large Energy User Action Plan as a plan-led route for very large projects, including green energy parks that co-locate industry with indigenous renewables, and to the CRU's December 2025 connection policy, under which new data centres must generate renewable power equal to 80 percent of their annual demand. He rejected the data-centres-versus-housing framing, said ESB Networks had connected over 147,000 homes and businesses in four years, and maintained that no household has been left unconnected because of a data centre, against a target of 300,000 homes by 2030.

EirGrid reports 42 percent renewables for June with a record solar month

EirGrid's June figures show 42 percent of electricity came from renewable sources, with wind contributing 30.7 percent of the fuel mix, equal to 821 GWh of wind generation, solar a record 8.2 percent, gas at 40 percent, and 17 percent imported via interconnection. System demand was 2,676 GWh in June, down from 2,794 GWh in May, reflecting the usual summer low. System Operational Manager Charlie McGee called it another record month for solar, following an earlier peak of over 1 GW from grid-scale solar. EirGrid is targeting the ability to run the system on up to 95 percent renewables at any one time by 2030 and 100 percent by 2035, against a current ceiling of 75 percent.

Energy Storage Ireland puts consumer savings from storage at €102m a year

A report by consultancy AFRY for Energy Storage Ireland, Money Saver: How Storage Lowers Energy Costs, found that storage could deliver over €102m in annual savings for consumers while cutting emissions and making better use of Irish renewable output. Minister O'Brien cited the report at the Energy Storage Ireland conference and confirmed the Department will set out a glide path for electricity storage to 2040, focused on a long-term target and the revenue certainty needed to underpin the pipeline. A firm long-duration storage target with a revenue mechanism attached is the single change developers have been asking for.

Lumcloon partners with KEPCO on a supercapacitor pilot

Lumcloon Energy agreed a storage partnership with KEPCO, South Korea's state electricity utility, for a supercapacitor pilot in Offaly. Supercapacitors charge faster than conventional batteries and deliver short, high bursts of power to the grid.

Oireachtas committee publishes anaerobic digestion report

The Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food published report 34/JCAF/06 on anaerobic digestion, drawn from October 2025 hearings with industry, the National Biogas Concern Group, and the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment. Its twelve recommendations cover national planning guidelines for anaerobic digestion plants, Environmental Protection Agency resourcing, a maximum gas emission target with continuous monitoring, mandatory community engagement plans in planning applications, reverse compression for rural grid connection, and faster enactment of the Renewable Heat Obligation Bill. The committee asks the Department to resolve the European Commission's March 2026 detailed opinion on the domestic biomethane multiplier, publish obligation rate projections beyond the initial two years, and bring the bill to Government this summer. Ireland runs about 30 biogas plants today against a 5.7 TWh biomethane target for 2030.

IFA presses Government to move from ambition to delivery

Irish Farmers' Association Energy from Farms Project Team Chair Maurice Brady called on the Government to deliver the certainty needed for farmer-scale biomethane and biogas, saying clear timelines and additional supports are urgently required. The intervention landed alongside the Oireachtas committee's anaerobic digestion report.

ISCC separates UK and Ireland from EU gas mass balance

The International Sustainability and Carbon Certification system confirmed that the UK and Ireland sit outside the EU interconnected gas infrastructure for ISCC EU purposes. Biomethane moving from the UK or Ireland into the EU now needs a gas nomination at the relevant cross-border entry point, with separate mass balances and supporting evidence maintained for each system. For Irish producers targeting EU offtake, this adds a nomination and documentation burden that raises the cost base of cross-border sales.

CRU opens PC6 gas network price control with a warning on rising charges

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities published its Strategy Paper for Price Control 6, the next revenue settlement for Gas Networks Ireland, running from October 2027 to September 2032. The central tension is that a shrinking gas demand and customer base could push network charges up even as overall gas use falls, since the cost of running the network is spread across fewer users. The CRU set out priorities across security of supply during the transition, support for renewable gases including biomethane, changing demand patterns, efficient investment, and network safety, and published a commissioned Future of Gas report alongside. This is the first milestone in the process, with a draft determination due in summer 2027. For biomethane developers the signal to watch is how future cost recovery treats renewable gas, since that shapes the economics of grid injection.

ESB E-Cars raises public charging prices by up to 14 percent

ESB E-Cars increased public charging tariffs by up to 14 percent, becoming the second operator after Ionity to price public charging above the equivalent cost of petrol and diesel. Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore cited the change in a call for intervention on charge-point pricing.

NI Renewable Electricity Generation Bill clears first reading

The Renewable Electricity Generation Bill passed its first reading in the Northern Ireland Assembly, establishing the legislative basis for the Renewable Energy Price Guarantee scheme. Secondary legislation and terms are expected by 2027, with first auctions in early 2028. On the all-island system, the scheme's design will shape how Northern Ireland renewable capacity bids into the I-SEM, worth tracking for developers with cross-border portfolios.

Fianna Fáil members back lifting the nuclear ban

Fianna Fáil members voted to approve a party bill to lift Ireland's statutory ban on nuclear power, moving a long-dormant debate into mainstream party politics. The vote is an internal party position and carries no immediate legislative force.