Required Measures for Community Energy Support

 In addition to efforts already made by the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland to ensure that energy citizens are the cornerstone for a sustainable energy pathway, extra measures, that involve additional grants and long term loans for community schemes in disadvantaged areas, are necessary  to ensure that Ireland is on track to an all inclusive and just energy transition (EPA, 2018). 

The latest Renewable Energy Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) centralises itself around community participation and is a step in the right direction towards achieving and all inclusive sustainable pathway towards energy production and consumption. Nevertheless, community access to such provisions is still limited and requires further resources and core funding from the Government. Currently, no national target exists with regards to community owned energy and existing barriers continue to limit progress. Policy changes must be put in place to address and respond to such barriers, particularly in relation to funding. Providing mentoring in community development should be encouraged with regards to technical and financial access and support. Intermediaries that provide support in financing, funding and information are therefore greatly needed.

Allowing householders, small businesses and communities to generate and sell energy back to the grid has been a key factor to the renewable energy movement across Europe (most notably in Germany). The Irish State has acknowledged this and has considered the committee's recommendations to put in place a coherent support scheme for micro-generation with a price for selling power to the grid, in the most recent National Climate Action report. This approach falls in line with the requirements set for 2021 under the European Clean Energy Package where Ireland must legislate for a re-configuration of the electricity market to make it possible for community-scale projects and private micro-generation “prosumers” (both a producer and consumer of electricity) to be able to sell any surplus electricity back into the grid (Houses of The Oireachtas, 2019).