The Republic has less electricity supply than last winter, according to national grid operator EirGrid.
Mark Foley, the network company’s chief executive, told politicians on Tuesday that the State had “marginally less” electricity generation capacity than last winter, when EirGrid and industry regulators warned of shortages.
Speaking to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment and Climate Action, he cautioned that there would be system alerts — warnings that electricity reserves are lower than ideal — during the autumn and winter.
“Our greatest risk will manifest at times of very low to zero wind and low imports from Britain,” Mr Foley warned.
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Responding to questions, he told the committee that the shortfall on the system amounted to 280 mega watts, enough electricity to supply about 280,000 homes.
Industry overseer, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, has told EirGrid to recruit enough emergency power generation to produce 700mw of electricity. Mr Foley confirmed that it hoped to procure 250mw on time for next winter.
Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, said September’s budget would focus on “social welfare and other measures” to tackle soaring energy prices.
He added that the high cost of electricity was the biggest energy issue facing the Government. “People are not going to see it really coming until their bills hit in November, December, January,” he said.
Mr Ryan added that talks with the departments of public expenditure and finance on possible moves to ease the problem were ongoing.
EirGrid works with businesses that consume large quantities of electricity to limit their requirements at times of peak demand, according to Mr Foley.
He argued that the Republic’s difficulty was not growing demand, but problems with existing power plants and straitened supplies.
The grid company chief said total electricity demand grew 9 per cent over the past five years. “This is not excessive for a vibrant western economy,” Mr Foley added.
“The reason we are here is that we have a shortfall in electricity generation and are overdependent on old fossil fuel plant[s],” he said.
However, Aoife MacEvilly, chairwoman for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, argued that increased demand from data centres was a challenge.
She also contradicted Mr Foley’s statement that EirGrid’s forecasts of demand growth have been accurate by saying predictions were not always consistent.
Mr Foley told the committee EirGrid could produce data to support his statement.
Both organisations agreed they “would not be here” if power plants promised by energy suppliers had been built on time for this winter.
Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley said he understood that a change in the draft terms of a 2019 auction to recruit new generators allowed businesses with no planning permission to build power plants to bid for contracts.
According to Senator Dooley, their low bids forced out projects that were ready for construction.
Ms MacEvilly said it was a matter of record that in 2019 the ESB won contracts for power plants capable of generating more than 400mw of electricity, but did not deliver.
The ESB has previously said planning delays and difficulties in buying power plant equipment prevented it from completing those projects on time.
Ms MacEvilly told Senator Dooley that if he had concerns about a particular bid, he should raise this with the regulator.
“The concerns are simple, the bidding process that you undertook let in some actors that clearly bid low and ended up winning and being unable to deliver,” he responded.
A new report commissioned by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities from accountants EY recommends that anyone bidding to build power plants should have planning permission before entering any competition.
