Consultation on the third Onshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 3) auction design and implementation

The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) provides support to renewable electricity projects in Ireland. With a primary focus on cost effectiveness, the RESS delivers a broader range of policy objectives, including:

• increasing Ireland’s energy security, energy sustainability and ensuring the cost effectiveness of energy policy
• increasing technology diversity by broadening the renewable electricity technology mix
• delivering an ambitious renewable electricity policy to 2030

Renewable electricity generation is a central element of our action on climate disruption and delivering a ‘renewables revolution’ as set out in the Programme for Government.

The third onshore RESS auction, RESS 3, will be a major step in meeting the ambition set out in the Climate Action Plan 2021 of achieving up to 80% renewables by 2030, up to 8GW of onshore wind capacity and the updated ambition of up to 5.5GW of solar capacity under the revised Sectoral Emissions Ceilings. The RESS ensures that we are on a pathway to meet our ambitious climate targets and lays the foundations of a thriving and cost-effective renewable electricity market. This will support the growth of the green economy, create sustainable work opportunities, and ultimately benefit the consumer as renewables become more cost effective and increase Ireland’s energy security.

The Programme for Government commits to holding RESS auctions at frequent intervals throughout the lifetime of the scheme. This will allow Ireland to take advantage of falling technology costs and avoid 'locking in' higher costs for consumers.

We have developed the high-level design for the third Onshore RESS, taking on board lessons learned from RESS 2. It is intended to refine the Terms and Conditions developed for RESS 2 with a limited and specific set of changes for RESS 3.

The aim of the targeted consultation is to receive stakeholder feedback on these proposed aspects of the Terms and Conditions which may impede the efficient and cost-effective delivery of renewable electricity projects under RESS 3.

The closing date for submissions has been extended to 5.30pm 16 December 2022

Members of the RESS Mailing List have been notified about this consultation. To be added to the RESS Mailing List to receive updates on RESS, please contact ress@decc.gov.ie

Submissions on this consultation should be sent by email to RESS3Consultation@decc.gov.ie or by post to:

RESS 3 Consultation

Renewable Electricity Division

Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications

29-31 Adelaide Road, Dublin, D02 X285

We held a public stakeholder information event on the RESS 3 Terms and Conditions on Friday 9 December 2022 .

The event, which was held virtually, sought input from stakeholders on aspects of the RESS 3 Terms and Conditions. The event involved presentations from DECC and our advisors. A question and answer session followed.

We are committed to engaging with stakeholders in a clear, open and transparent manner. Any person or organisation can make a submission in relation to this consultation. All submissions and feedback will be considered before the final version of the Scheme is published.

Please note that responses to this consultation are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (FOI), Access to Information on the Environment Regulations 2007-2018 (AIE) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Please also note that we intend to publish the contents of all submissions received to our consultations on our website. We will redact personal data prior to publication. In responding to this consultation, parties should clearly indicate where their responses contain personal information, commercially sensitive information or confidential information which they would not wish to be released under FOI, AIE or otherwise published.

We would like to draw your attention to our Data Privacy Notice which explains how and when we collect personal data, why we do so and how we treat this information. It also explains your rights in relation to the collection of personal information and how you can exercise those rights.