Minister Eamon Ryan has said that the outlook for electricity supply this winter “has improved”.

Speaking in the Dáil today (Thursday, September 16) in response to questions about potential blackouts, the minister said that the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has advised him that it has “identified challenges to ensuring the continued security of electricity supply” in the country.

The minister said the CRU “is in the process of addressing these”.

“There are a range of actions being taken by CRU and EirGrid to ensure security,” he said.

“These include maximising the availability of existing generators; the development of new generation capacity, including temporary generation capacity in advance of winter 2022; making changes to the grid connection rules for data centres; and working with large energy consumers to reduce, where possible, their electricity demand during peak periods.”

System alerts issued

There have been a number of system alerts issued over the last year, including two last week – but Minister Ryan said that “they have not affected the supply of electricity to customers”.

“I am advised by CRU that owing to the expected return of two key gas-fired power stations by November, the outlook for the coming winter has improved,” he continued.

“However, it does not eliminate the potential for further system alerts. My department is supporting CRU and EirGrid as they progress the actions necessary to ensure continued secure electricity supply.”

He said the expectation at the moment is there there will not be any outages this winter, “but we never know”.

“There could be a power station breakdown, or something similar to the loss of the two large gas power stations that went offline early this year.

“There are always developments that cannot be completely predicted but, subject to the return of the two gas power stations, we expect to be able to get through this winter period.

“However, no one should underestimate the scale of the challenge we will face in the coming winters, particularly the three or four after the coming one.

“We have to retire, by 2025, some large generators, such as those at Moneypoint coal-fired power station, Tarbert and Edenderry, or at least switch them from being high fossil fuel generation stations to low fossil fuel generation stations.

“The demand side is very much a part of the equation. Data centres are only one element.”

Electricity cost increases

Sinn Féin TD Darren O’Rourke, who described the prospect of blackouts as being “quite incredible”, also raised the issue to the minister of increases in electricity costs.

“The increase affecting gas has had consequences for electricity. It is an issue right across Europe and most of the world,” Minister Ryan responded.

“It is a complex situation but it is primarily driven by a massive increase in gas prices. It is occurring because last winter was very cold.

“There is a very low level of gas storage and the price of carbon on the international carbon market is very high. It is an issue of switching off coal plants internationally and switching on gas plants.

“The circumstances I have described, and a huge increase in demand for gas in Asia, are leading to a spike in gas prices, which is the primary cause of the increase in electricity prices.”