109. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he will consider accelerating delivery of hybrid grid connections and shared connection arrangements. [66786/26]

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) is responsible for grid connection policy, including hybrid connections. The CRU is an independent regulator, accountable to a Committee of the Oireachtas and not to me as Minister. The CRU was assigned responsibility for the regulation of the Irish electricity sector following the enactment of the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 and subsequent legislation.

Under CAP 23, the CRU are tasked with ensuring that hybrid technology grid connections are facilitated. Currently it is possible to obtain a hybrid connection, for various forms of generation, on the Irish system for a single legal entity at a connection point. The CRU are working to develop policies to remove barriers to facilitate additional hybrid connections and have split this workstream into three parts: Removal of Installed Capacity Cap; Sharing of Maximum Export Capacity (MEC); and Supporting Multiple Legal Entities.

To date this work has included removing the Installed Capacity Cap and the publication of the CRU’s decision paper on Sharing of Maximum Export Capacity in April 2026. The CRU are now progressing work on allowing multiple legal entities to own separate generation assets behind a single connection point.

My Department engages with the CRU and system operators on a continuous basis and receives updates on the status of their hybrid connections policy through the Connections Working Group. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, and electricity system operators, ESB Networks and EirGrid, are also members of the Connections Working Group, which provides coordination and support to the development of relevant policies by their respective responsible organisations. This group reports to the Accelerating Renewable Energy Taskforce.

The Deputy may wish to engage directly with the CRU who have a contact email address for Deputies to raise matters of concern ([oireachtas@cru.ie]).