Ireland has a large quantity of renewable generation contributing to it’s overall generation portfolio, however it is becoming increasingly difficult to deliver this to energy users in a way that conforms to strict green disclosure guidelines. This difficulty is set to increase further if proposed changes to the accounting of generation attributes from Ireland’s PSO funded renewable generation are implemented by the EU.
There is also an increasing number of energy users looking for a limited supply of renewable generation; a growing economy has brought about increasing numbers of large energy users in the form of datacenters and large production sites. This has increased what was an already high demand.
The Non-Financial Reporting Directive, that was transposed into Irish law in August 2017, has created an increased impetus for large businesses to procure renewable electricity. This new law follows precedents in other EU countries and obliges large businesses in Ireland to return annual statutory reports with key metrics including: renewable electricity consumption, Green House Gas emissions and Water usage.
These developments are happening at a time when state support for renewable generation is in a hiatus, meaning that the development of new renewable generation projects will be at a standstill when the current batch of approved windfarms are commissioned in the coming year or so.
A solution to these current challenges may be a Corporate PPA. Under this arrangement the large energy user would consume the generation of an independent renewable generator and support the industry by passing on margins to the generators that were previously received by the supply companies.
CCL can administer Corporate PPAs and has expert knowledge and experience of the processes and requirements for such an arrangement.
