DS3

Delivering a Secure Sustainable Electricity System (DS3)

The deployment of renewable energy sources (RES) in the electricity sector has been increasing steadily in recent years and Ireland and Northern Ireland are committed to increasing the level of renewable electricity consumption to 40% by 2020. The EirGrid Group is at the forefront of this change and is working with all industry stakeholders to facilitate these ambitious renewable electricity targets.

At its core, our strategy to integrate more renewable energy is been realised through a commitment to build the network infrastructural requirements and understand the operational implications of managing a power system with large amounts of variable renewable generation.

The combination of the All Island Grid studies, EirGrid’s Grid 25 , the Facilitation of Renewables studies, and a comprehensive analysis of the long-term needs of the power system conducted in 2011, form the backbone of our plans to facilitate the 40% target by 2020. The key message from this analysis and previous studies is that the 2020 renewable targets are achievable; however, significant work is required to manage the integration of very high levels of instantaneous renewable penetration on the island. The main operational areas that need to be addressed are the management of the system frequency, balancing the system in real time, managing system voltage and ensuring the compliance of plant with the Grid Code requirements.

To manage the operational element of our work over the coming years, EirGrid and SONI have established a programme of work entitled “Delivering a Secure Sustainable Electricity System (DS3)”. This work programme includes enhancing the portfolio performance, developing new operational policies and system tools to efficiently use the plant portfolio to the best of its capabilities, and regularly reviewing the needs of the system as the portfolio capability evolves.