Wasting renewable energy 'unnecessary and unforgivable' when households live in energy poverty

Dáil committee told more than €1.4m of clean renewable wind energy was being 'dispatched down, or wasted, every single day' and could be redirected to homes in fuel poverty

Otherwise-wasted renewable energy could be redirected to heat water in those living in social and affordable homes, using technologies such as heat pumps, thermal batteries, and smart storage heaters, Dáil committee told.

Wasting more than €1m-a-day worth of renewable energy is “unnecessary and unforgivable” at a time when more than 500,000 homes are living in energy poverty, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

At the Social Protection Committee, EnergyCloud chief executive Alan Wyley told TDs and senators a targeted credit similar to the electricity credits from recent years would be a “very good first step” in helping homes out of energy poverty and would “cost the exchequer nothing”.