Sunblock: Solar & Irish connection policy

The forthcoming decision of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) on stage 1 of its Enduring Connection Policy (ECP-1) will shape the future Irish generation portfolio.

The draft ECP-1 document, published in November 2017, sets out how the CRU proposes to allocate electricity connections following Gate 3 – an application processing mechanism for the allocation of grid connections – and its mooted closure of the non-group processing approach.

As is well documented, Ireland’s connection application queue (35.1GW) is orders of magnitude greater than what is currently connected (10.6GW, with a further 3.5GW contracted, though a number of those projects are on hold). Of that queue, 5.7GW is comprised of solar projects, and it is their potential fate that is the focus of this blog.

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Power and gas networks
Conall Bolger

Conall Bolger

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