Renewable Energy Generation
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Albert Dolan (FF), Galway East

I really appreciate the clarity provided in that detailed response. It definitely raises the question about looking back at what has happened in that time since the CRU stopped regulating energy. There are a lot of energy providers and competition in the market. There is also a lot of renewable generation happening. The most concerning thing in the response was the statement to the effect that "price setting by electricity suppliers, including remuneration for microgeneration for householders and businesses is a commercial and operational matter for the companies concerned." Right now, it makes sense for them to pay for the supply that comes from solar during the summer because it provides power to the grid. It is available and they can buy it relatively cheaply compared with what they would pay on the wholesale market. A problem could arise whereby if a huge number of homes have a large amount of electricity to export, on most peak export days the relevant commercial entities will not want to buy all of that electricity if it cannot be stored. I may be barking up the wrong tree here. We need to have a bigger conversation around storage.
I again welcome the grant announced earlier today. It is going to be absolutely fantastic because it will make it easier for people to decided to also install batteries when they are initially putting in solar panels, because the grant is there for that. I ask the Minister of State to take the message back to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien - I will relay it to him as well - that we have to protect people who are supplying electricity to the grid. Regardless of whether they are small businesses, farmers or domestic households, they deserve to get a fair price for their electricity.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29