Today marks an important date for prospective bidders in the third onshore auction under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 3), as the Government publishes its provisional qualification decision on a member private basis via the RESS Auction Platform.
The final qualification decision date is scheduled for 1 September 2023, with bidding opening on 8 September 2023 and final auction results anticipated on 9 October 2023.
RESS 3 – a Recap
The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) is an auction-based scheme which invites renewable electricity projects to bid for capacity and receive a guaranteed price for the renewable electricity they generate. RESS 3 will be the third onshore auction run by the government to procure renewable generation capacity for the Irish electricity system and is a key pillar of the Government's drive to meet its environmental commitments under the Climate Action Plan 2023.
Key Changes from RESS 1 and 2 include:
- Introduction of Unrealised Available Energy Compensation (UAEC) to significantly de-risk RESS participants' exposure to uncertainty surrounding curtailment and oversupply.
- Introduction of partial indexation of project costs. The lack of indexation in previous RESS auctions has become more pertinent as we have moved away from a low interest rate environment.
- Tightening of eligibility criteria to minimise risks associated with speculative bidding into auctions. Under RESS 3, projects must have a connection agreement or a grid connection offer that is capable of being accepted within the 90-day validity period.
The Revised RESS 3 Terms and Conditions
On 3 August 2023, the Department of the Environment, Climate & Communications published Revised RESS 3 Terms and Conditions which made minor amendments to the terms and conditions it had published in May in relation to RESS 3.
In addition to those key changes highlighted above, the original RESS 3 Terms and Conditions also changed the terms relating to the commencement and duration of the supports provided under RESS. These concepts have been further altered in the recent revision and the substantive amendments in the Revised RESS 3 Terms and Conditions relate to:
- Duration of the supports under RESS 3: the originally published support end date of 2042 has been amended to 2041 so that the maximum duration of the supports under RESS 3 aligns with those in RESS 1 and RESS 2.
- Commencement of supports under RESS 3: provisions have been tweaked to enable projects which energise in advance of the nominal RESS 3 Support Start Date to avail of supports earlier.
Contributed by Colm Booth, Matthew Smith
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