EirGrid has published the provisional auction results of the second Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 2) auction in Ireland.
A total of 80 new wind and solar projects have provisionally been awarded contracts in Ireland’s latest Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS 2) auction. These projects will receive a guaranteed price for the electricity they generate for a maximum of 16.5 years. There were 130 renewable energy projects in total involved in the auction amounting to 1.9GW compared to the 1.2 GW in RESS-1. There were 50 projects/998 MW that were unsuccessful in gaining state support during this auction. The successful projects were dominated by solar with 66 of the 80 being solar projects. Successful projects included Ballyroe Solar (120MW) and Derrinlough Onshore Wind Farm (105 MW). A total of 414MW onshore wind were awarded contracts.
The average strike price amongst all projects is €97.87/MWh with the community-based projects averaging €116.41/MWh in RESS 2.
The final auction results will be published on 15th June, upon the approval of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.
Since the publication of the results, Cornwall Insight have published ‘RESS for LESS’ which indiciates key measures government can adopt to mitigate pricing in future auctions. The report can be found here.
