The 'private wires' policy, as it is known, is designed to alleviate current strain on Ireland's national grid by encouraging companies with high energy loads to invest in separate grid connections for their own on-site renewable energy generation projects in wind, solar, and storage.
The policy framework is a first of kind policy, which clarifies the key role of electricity storage in Ireland's transition to an electricity-led system, supporting Irelands 2030 climate targets, it may be considered as a steppingstone on Ireland's path to net zero carbon emissions.
The policy sets out 10 policy actions, which include the following proposed key actions: Electricity storage system operators are to be given access to all wholesale electricity markets in Ireland.
In a bid to incentivise the creation of energy storage in Ireland, the government is developing a policy framework to help deliver their objectives in this area of its Climate Action Plan which is targeting a proportion of renewable electricity to up to 80% by 2030.
In this regard, greater emphasis is placed on ensuring 'long duration' electricity storage systems – systems that have the capacity to deliver electricity throughout at least a four-hour period – are integrated into Ireland's electricity grid.
Image: Connie Zhou via Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA-4.0 Solar Ireland, the lobby group representing the Irish solar industry has welcomed the State's approval for a new policy that will allow private sector companies to set up their own private electricity infrastructure.
This might be when demand is high or when capacity from wind or solar is low – for instance, during a low pressure period in winter. Ireland has about 800MW of storage capacity, while the policy framework recommends procuring additional storage immediately. Ultimately, this will provide cheaper, green electricity to the consumer.
This policy remains in place today, but at the end of April, the Greek parliament voted in a new law (Law 5106/2024) that allows the government to hold auctions for asset owners who are willing to accept higher power curtailment rates for their projects than usual, as well as installations that include energy storage systems.
As of December 2013, the total installed photovoltaic capacity in Greece reached 2,419.2 MWp of which 987.2 MWp were installed in the period between January–September 2013 despite the financial crisis. Greece ranks 5th worldwide with regard to per capita installed PV capacity.
The new law has also put an end to feed-in tariffs for solar projects up to 500 kW in size. Developers of such installations with the necessary licenses can sign contracts with Greece's Renewable Energy Sources Operator and sell the generated electricity in the electricity market at a feed-in tariff of €65.73 ($71.37)/MWh.
Greece has been actively focusing on energy storage since the emergence of the RES “boom” in 2020. The country recognised the pivotal role of energy storage in the energy transition and emphasised its importance in the first iteration of the country's National Energy and Climate Plan in 2019.
This policy remains in place today, but at the end of April, the Greek parliament voted in a new law (Law 5106/2024) that allows the government to hold auctions for asset owners who are willing to accept higher power curtailment rates for their projects than usual, as well as installations that include energy storage systems.
The new law does not define the percentage of electricity curtailment for awarded projects in future auctions. Instead, the new law allows Greece's Ministry of the Environment and Energy to separately set the percentage of electricity curtailment for awarded projects for each new auction.
To be eligible to participate in the first auction, projects must hold a valid Energy Storage Licence while a set of other eligibility criteria (including soundness of the technology used and minimum power injection capacity) must be met.
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