Transforming the country’s electricity grid for the future

Eirgrid’s Shaping Our Electricity Future roadmap provides a blueprint for the radical transformation of the country’s electricity grid. Launched during Cop26 in Glasgow last month, the roadmap is the result of a comprehensive 14-week consultation involving all sectors of society and two years of research by industry experts along with tens of millions of technical simulations.

“We were asked by the government to transform the electricity system in anticipation of a future without coal, oil, peat and ultimately one with net zero emissions,” says Eirgrid chief innovation and planning officer Liam Ryan, whose team led the work on the consultation process. “Specifically, we were tasked with redeveloping the grid to manage the vast majority of Ireland’s electricity coming from renewable sources by 2030.”

The plan provides an outline of the key developments needed from a networks, engagement, operations and market perspective to support a secure transition to at least 70 per cent and up to 80 per cent renewables on the electricity grid by 2030.

The consultation process put forward four different approaches to developing the grid and the final roadmap contains a blended approach that looks at grid development from an economic, technical, social acceptance and deliverability perspective and seeks to minimise the impact on communities while still delivering on the renewable ambitions.

The plan envisages 40 new grid infrastructure projects, representing a total investment of more than €1 billion. “This is in addition to the existing €2.2 billion programme of grid infrastructure projects which we have already engaged with communities on and which we have funding for,” says Ryan. “Under the Shaping Our Electricity Future roadmap, there will be greater control over where future generation and demand is located, minimising the need for the development of new electricity lines. Most of the new projects identified in the blueprint are upgrades to existing infrastructure.”

It became clear early on that a single solution would not meet the needs of the entire country and a mix of different approaches would be required. “We carried a significant amount of analysis work prior to the consultation process,” Ryan explains. “We engaged with communities throughout the country and in every part of the energy ecosystem to get insights. We took the information and looked at it and came up with the best solution for Ireland.”

Microgeneration

He points out that communities were clear that they wanted microgeneration to be part of the solution. “They want to be part of the energy transition, and this is part of that. We also looked at the need for new infrastructure and how that could be minimised by making use of smart technologies on the grid.

“In some situations, we will need to build new infrastructure, of course, and we will need new overground and underground cables. We will consult with communities to arrive at socially and environmentally acceptable solutions.”

And those solutions will have to be applied against a backdrop of electricity demand increasing by between 30 and 50 per cent over the next nine years. “We have to make the different solutions work together,” Ryan points out. “It became obvious that we really do need more infrastructure in the Dublin area as that’s where a lot of the demand growth will be. The electrification of heat and transport along with economic and population growth and large energy users connecting to the system will drive that increased demand.”

That means putting generation closer to demand in that case. “The best solution to that is offshore wind and we are looking at 5GW off the east coast. Overall, we are also looking at 1.3GW from onshore wind, 1GW of solar, and 500MW from microgeneration. There will also be around 1.4GW of battery storage to help overcome evening peaks. The backstop will be around 2GW of conventional clean gas generation coming onto the system. We want those plants to be ready for renewable gas when it becomes available. That will help us get to net zero by 2050.”

The plan will also see some large energy users moving to the west and south west where there is a lot of onshore wind generation.

The next steps are to turn the plan into reality, Ryan concludes. “We need to engage with society and make sure that we continue to hear people’s voices. We will engage with the full energy ecosystem to ensure we are all delivering on the government’s aspirations. Then we all need to deliver. When we look at climate change happening before our eyes it is clear that we need action now and we need to bring people on the journey with us as we move to 70 and then 80 per cent and finally to a net-zero economy.”