According to Solar Media’s new Republic of Ireland Storage Project Database Report, the island of Ireland now has over 2.5GW of grid-scale battery storage in the pipeline.

As renewable energy capacity on the island continues to grow, so has the appetite for energy storage projects, as more and more renewable sources become connected to the grid.

This 2.5GW in pipeline storage, encompasses projects in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with 2.1GW of projects in the Republic, and an additional 330MW of projects located in Northern Ireland.

In 2020, the first two utility-scale battery storage projects became operational in the Republic of Ireland, an 11MW Kilathmoy project by Statkraft was completed, followed by an 100MW project from Hanwha Energy and Lumcloon Energy. 

According to the report, the main driver for this acceleration in energy storage has been the Delivering a Secure Sustainable Electricity System Scheme (DS3), which was introduced in 2011 by the EirGrid group to meet Ireland's electricity targets by safely and securely increasing the amount of renewable energy on the Irish power system.

Furthermore, Energy Storage Ireland, a newly established representative body, was setup last year to facilitate the development of energy storage in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Energy Storage Ireland has recently developed a paper titled ‘Our Energy Storage Future – Recommendations for an All-Island Energy Storage Roadmap’ which highlights the barriers and challenges facing the energy storage industry as well as a number of short, medium and long term solutions. 

With more and more policymakers highlighting the complimentary nature of renewable energy and energy storage technologies and the significant role energy storage has in enabling the low-carbon economy, it seems likely that the growth trends will continue, in the bid to meet Ireland's national and EU climate targets.