Only three wind projects secure contracts in Irish renewables auction

Meanwhile, the provisional average strike price was up to €100.47/MWh from €97.87/MWh in RESS 2 and €74.08/MWh in RESS 1, Eirgrid noted.

Contracts

SSE Renewables secured a 101MW contract for the Yellow River wind farm in County Offaly, while Orsted secured one for its 43.2MW Farranrory project in Tipperary. The third wind-related contract was for 4.2MW (Bradan wind farm).

Solar fared slightly better than wind in the auction, with 497.6MW awarded, but this was significantly down on the more than 1.5GW awarded for RESS 2.

‘Extremely disappointing’

Wind Energy Ireland described the result as “extremely disappointing” and said it highlighted a need for urgent reform of how wind power is developed in Ireland. The increase in strike price could have been even higher, it noted, had the Government not provided partial indexation in this auction and factored curtailment into the terms and conditions of the auction.

Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, said: “We cannot ignore the reality that this is the third auction for onshore wind and solar and when we should be seeing prices going down, and the volume of renewable energy winning contracts rising, we are seeing the exact opposite. At a time when we should be accelerating the delivery of renewable energy, we are slowing down.”

The critical issue remains the “failure of the Irish planning system” to meet its own timelines for processing applications for renewable energy projects, he added. This week marks one year since the last onshore wind farm received planning permission from An Bord Pleanála, he noted.

“Dozens of wind energy projects are in planning limbo. They are supposed to get their decisions in 18 weeks but the average decision time for a wind project is well over 90 weeks,” he said. “The system isn’t working. We are calling on the Government to meet with ourselves and with our colleagues in the solar industry to review the auction design ahead of next year’s auction and to examine the entire system for delivering onshore renewable energy in Ireland. Business as usual doesn’t cut it anymore.”