The Department of Communications Climate Action and Environment has announced a final consultation on the shape of future supports for renewable electricity in Ireland over the coming decades. This looks very likely to be an auction mechanism with a strong emphasis on community ownership.

Existing REFIT supports expired at the end of 2015 to new applicants, and this current consultation gives a strong indication of the direction of travel for all new renewable electricity projects.

The second and final consultation paper and supporting documents can be viewed on DCCAE website.

Some key features of the support scheme are:

For most project types, a new competitive auction system is expected to replace feed in tariffs.

Auctions would run every 1 or 2 years, with auctions being designed to ensure there are more projects than there is capacity required.

A uniform price mechanism is preferred, where all successful bidders get the price of the highest accepted bid.

Onshore wind is likely to set the pricing that all other technologies can bid into a technology-neutral category.

It is likely that auctions would start with single technology category and evolve to have different technology categories, i.e. separate pots for offshore wind, solar PV and possibly more technologies.

Planning, grid, and meeting criteria related to community ownership offering are likely to be mandatory prequalification criteria for auction participation. The community ownership elements of this are a new requirement compared to previous schemes.

There are likely to be separate auction allocations and other support packages specifically targeted towards community-led developments.