Boosting renewable-power supply in the Irish and UK grid

The ERDF is funding a cross-border Irish-UK project to supply more wind power to the grid via energy storage in homes and small businesses and to improve access to renewable heat and power by low-income households. The project is supporting the transition to low-carbon energy on the island of Ireland.

Up to 18 % of energy generated from wind in Northern Ireland and 5 % of energy from wind in Ireland is unused and therefore lost each year. The Storage Platform for the Integration of Renewable Energy (SPIRE 2) project – a consortium of Irish and UK research and industry partners – is investigating how consumer-owned energy-storage technologies could hold the excess power then release it back to the grid when needed, thereby reducing energy waste.

An initiative within SPIRE 2, the Rural-Led Energy Transition (RULET) is also enabling low-income households to access affordable renewable energy. RULET, which runs until mid-2022, will supply stored wind-generated power to social housing tenants at wholesale electricity prices and use heat pumps and smart boiler-operation systems to convert excess wind energy into low-cost heating and hot water.

SPIRE 2 ensures that Northern Ireland can meet climate targets more easily, rely less on imported fossil fuels and ensure that no one is left behind in the clean energy transition. The EUR 6.7-million project is funded from the Interreg V-A – United Kingdom-Ireland (Ireland-Wales) programme.

Related links:

Source article on: https://www.irishtimes.com on 08/12/2020

Project: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/spire2/the-project

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