2026-06-09

I appreciate the opportunity to raise this extremely important issue. It has been pointed out that last week alone, over €15 million of renewable wind energy was wasted. According to EirGrid, 18% of wind energy was wasted in 2026. For people who do not know, EnergyCloud is delivering free heated water to thousands of people over 120 nights a year and will be helping thousands of homes by the end of 2026. It is demonstrating the link between surplus renewable energy and energy poverty in a very practical way. It is making impacts on a day-to-day basis for people who are in energy poverty. The residents in question have spoken not only of the money, but also of the fact that they now have hot water to wash themselves, their children, their dishes, and their homes. It has a real impact. It removes having to make the choice between heating or eating, and shows what is possible. Some of the statistics are quite shocking. The programme for Government has a commitment to use surplus renewable energy to help those in fuel energy poverty. Renewable energy wastage came to 2,137 GWh. Approximate retail value of the wasted energy was €756 million. That is an astonishing amount of wasted energy. It is equivalent to 692 million tanks of hot water heated. The average waste per day is €1.633 million. That is energy that is being created every single day that is going to waste. EnergyCloud is trying to make the connection between the renewable energy that is being created, that cannot be used at a particular time that day, and people who are in energy poverty. When we talk about the cost-of-living crisis that we have at the moment, there are something like 320,000 people currently in energy poverty or energy debt. They are a number of months behind on their payments. The scale of this is absolutely huge. The scale of energy that is being created and wasted is astonishing. A commitment is required from the Government to support EnergyCloud. That is what it is asking for. It has sent this email to every single TD. The Minister of State may have received it himself. It is really important that we have that discussion on linking the energy we have here and people in energy poverty. This about enabling them to wash themselves, washing their dishes and heating their homes. It is quite incredible.

I am taking this on behalf of the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who is out of the country. Ireland is fully committed to an ambitious and just green transition, which is essential not only from an environmental perspective, but is also required to reduce our reliance on expensive imported fossil fuels. This involves remaining abreast of new technologies in order to support the integration of increasing volumes of renewables and to further support the use of surplus energy to reduce the amount of wasted energy. Some major challenges exist for electricity systems like ours which are increasingly powered by renewables. These complex issues can only be addressed by taking a systematic approach requiring investment in grid, storage and demand flexibility. The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment has engaged widely with relevant stakeholders to identify areas for co-operation in relation to tackling energy poverty and renewable energy waste. A number of key measures are currently under way. First is grid enhancement and interconnection. We are investing €18.9 billion in network infrastructure. The Greenlink interconnector, completed in April 2025, and the forthcoming Celtic interconnector with France will allow us to export surplus energy to European markets during periods of high generation. Second is the national energy affordability action plan. Through the national energy affordability task force, we are developing an action plan to be published in late 2026. A primary objective is to identify solutions that allow household, particularly those in energy poverty, to avail of low-cost surplus renewable energy. Third is the electricity storage policy framework. Following the publication of our battery storage framework, we are accelerating the deployment of long-duration storage and batteries. In addition, we are increasing battery capacity to buffer the grid during peak production. The fourth is the national hydrogen programme. Our new national hydrogen programme task force is overseeing a work programme to develop green hydrogen as a long-term storage solution for surplus wind and solar power. Fifth is the smart grid and demand response. Through the CRU and ESB Networks, we are expanding "Beat the Peak" initiatives and smart meter incentives, encouraging consumers and large energy users to shift their demand to times of high renewable surplus. The national energy demand strategy aims to make 20% to 30% of electricity demand flexible by 2030. A key aspect of this strategy is preparing households and businesses to maximise their use of renewables. The sixth is district heating. We are advancing the development of district heating systems to take excess heat from large energy users and other sources to power district heating solutions for both households and businesses. Finally, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment will also lead the development of an integrated strategy on the use of renewable surplus energy, which will co-ordinate technical grid limits, flexible demand, storage deployment and interconnector flows to maximise the use of renewable energy units. These measures clearly demonstrate our commitment to a just and green transition while managing the current energy affordability strains on households in Ireland.

I welcome the report from the Minister. One of the key things is the national energy affordability task force report which is due to be published late this year. My concern and that of EnergyCloud is that it will come too late for the next budget because it will need investment. Although there is investment in the smart grid and all the things the Minister of State just outlined, I am unsure where it makes the connection between the 550,000 homes where people are living in energy poverty and how that connects with the seven items the Minister of State talked about in his reply. I welcome the advancements but when one looks at the wasted renewable energy report from EnergyCloud for 16 months until 30 April, as I said, that is €756 million in retail wasted energy. This cannot come too soon for people in energy poverty who, as we speak, are probably not heating their homes. I know we are in June but we are not talking about warm weather today. I welcome the report but there needs to be more urgency about it. People are choosing between heating and eating need it now and they need that support now.

The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment is acutely aware that, with the scale of renewable electricity generation sources coming onto the grid, the grid needs to be more flexible to account for the intermittent nature of renewables. Moreover, for the decarbonisation pathway to be efficient our energy systems must be smart. A smart and flexible energy system will reduce consumer energy bills by reducing the amount of generation and network assets that need to be built to meet peak demand. Consequently the deployment of energy smart appliances such as electric vehicle charge points, domestic battery storage, energy storage systems, heat pumps and hot water heating solutions is a crucial step for empowering households and businesses to play a central role in Ireland’s energy transition. Some major challenges exist, however, that can only be addressed by taking a systematic approach requiring investment in grid storage and demand flexibility. The Government remains fully committed to an ambitious and just green transition that is fair and leaves no one behind. The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment has engaged widely with relevant stakeholders to identify areas for co-operation in relation to tackling energy poverty and renewable energy waste and a number of key measures are currently under way, some of which I referred to in detail earlier.