On 26 September 2019, EirGrid launched its 2020-2025 Strategy in response to the Irish
Government's 2019 Climate Action Plan.
The Climate Action Plan aims to transform our economy and
society towards climate resilience and sustainability. This burden
falls disproportionately on the electricity sector. The Plan sets
an objective of increasing reliance on renewables from 30% to 70%,
adding 12GW of new renewable energy capacity by 2030, coupled with
the electrification of traditionally carbon intensive sectors such
a transport, heating and cooling.
The scale of this challenge should not be underestimated. Not
only will Ireland require very significant investment in
infrastructure and system services in a relatively short period to
support 12GW of additional renewables, Ireland must fundamentally
rethink the way it approaches system development. A traditional
model of developing the grid in response to connection applications
will need to give way to a more visionary
