Turlough Hill in Co Wicklow, Ireland. Image: © Ross/Stock.adobe.com
Eamon Ryan celebrated the milestone but said energy storage projects ‘must continue’ to grow to balance Ireland’s homegrown supply of clean energy.
ESB Networks says it has reached a new milestone in securing Ireland’s security of energy supply with 1GW of electricity storage connected to the national network.
This includes 731.5MW of battery storage projects and 292MW from the Turlough Hill pumped storage power station in Co Wicklow, which completes half a century in operation this year.
According to the state-owned electricity company, 1GW of energy storage is enough to power approximately 450,000 homes for an hour. ESB said that this is important during peaks in demand or when frequency support is needed at times of low levels of renewable generation.
Peak demand in Ireland reached a record high in January when EirGrid said electricity demand reached 5.57GW thanks to cold weather.
“Unsurprisingly, demand reached a new evening peak this week given the very low temperatures,” Diarmaid Gillespie, director of system operations at EirGrid, wrote at the time.
“Good generation availability, interconnection imports from Great Britain, and some wind generation meant this task went smoothly this week despite the record demand for electricity.”
Now, the new milestone reached by ESB – which opened a major battery plant at its site in Poolbeg in February – is expected to provide essential backup services to Ireland’s national grid to keep electricity supply secure, reduce carbon emissions and bring down costs for consumers.
Nicholas Tarrant, managing director at ESB, said that the new high in electricity storage is a “significant milestone” for Ireland’s electricity network.
“The figure includes sites like ESB’s Turlough Hill hydroelectric station, but what we have seen in recent years is a major push by the wider industry to deliver large-scale battery energy storage projects that we have been able to support through network connections,” he said.
“As this will no doubt continue, we at ESB are proud to be playing our part in helping to deliver the infrastructure required on the journey to a net-zero future where clean sources of electricity backed by flexible storage options will be the cornerstone of a cleaner electricity system for Ireland.”
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan, TD, said that even though 1GW is an “incredible milestone”, the growth in energy storage projects “simply must continue” to ensure Ireland can balance its homegrown supply of clean energy.
“Ireland is on a journey that will see us reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels in the move to cleaner sources of energy,” he said.
“Energy storage, like the large-scale battery projects we are seeing emerge across the country combined with the technology at sites like ESB’s Turlough Hill, will be crucial to provide more affordable, sustainable electricity and ensuring security of supply.”
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