From left: Jim Dollard, Sean Rapple, Eamon Ryan, Paul McCusker and Claire Quane. Image: Fennell Photography
Operational since November last year, the project has the capacity to provide 75MW of energy to Ireland’s electricity system for around two hours.
ESB, the state-owned electricity company, has announced the opening of a major battery plant at its site in Poolbeg, Dublin.
The battery plant will add around 75MW of fast-acting energy storage to make the grid in Ireland more stable and increase the share of renewables in the electricity system.
One of the largest of its kind in commercial operation in Ireland, the new battery energy storage system is part of a pipeline of projects planned by ESB across the company’s sites in Dublin and Cork. These plans follow an investment of up to €300m.
Excess renewable energy stored in the batteries can be discharged as and when required. ESB hopes the new plant will boost Ireland’s hopes of reaching its climate targets by 2030 and the company itself reaching its net zero goal by 2040.
“Energy storage like this major battery plant at the ESB’s flagship site in Poolbeg will be a core part of Ireland’s new renewable energy transition and will play a key role in balancing our new, homegrown power supply,” said Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan, TD.
“No electricity system can operate without a backup. In Ireland this has traditionally been provided by fossil fuel generation. However, into the future, we can store increasing amounts of wind and solar power in energy storage projects and use it to support the system instead of relying on dirty and expensive coal or gas.”
Operational since November 2023, the project located at the ESB Poolbeg Energy Hub in Dublin has the capacity to provide 75MW of energy to Ireland’s electricity system for two hours.
The site is also home to some of the latest technologies supporting future renewable energy forms including batteries, hydrogen and offshore wind.
“Today marks another important milestone for ESB as we launch our latest fast-acting grid-scale battery unit that will support grid stability and help to deliver more renewables on Ireland’s electricity system,” said Jim Dollard, executive director of generation and trading at ESB.
“The location of this project, at our Poolbeg Energy Hub, will build on our longstanding history of innovation at the site.”
A KPMG report at the end of last year suggested that nearly all industry experts believe the country will fail to meet key targets in its Climate Action Plan.
It also highlighted concerns that Ireland’s grid is not strong enough to handle the number of solar and wind energy projects that would be required to hit the country’s 2030 energy goals.
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