Critical role of battery storage in Ireland’s energy plans

Ireland is going to need up to seven times more energy storage than its current capacity, say industry experts.John Daly reports

Ireland is going in the right direction as regards energy storage — we’re good, but we in terms of building out batteries, but we are going to need to go a lot further by 2030.

At the recent Energy Storage Global Conference in Brussels, the general message rang out loud that energy storage is no longer a secondary technology but a central enabler of Europe’s future energy system.

Experts from across the energy industry emphasised the importance of energy storage to enhance grid flexibility, support renewable integration, and promote industry decarbonisation.

David Post, President of the European Association for Storage of Energy, highlighted the growing investment in energy storage across Europe: “We are witnessing unprecedented levels of investment, with countries betting big on energy storage as a key enabler of the energy transition. As costs continue to decline, the potential for energy storage by 2030 is truly transformative.”

Experts across the sector agreed that energy storage will be crucial for balancing the increasing share of renewable energy on the grid while maintaining the security of supply, in addition to providing the flexibility needed to fully decarbonise electricity systems.

Bobby Smith, head of Energy Storage Ireland, has led strategy, research and engagement activities since 2019 and is a keen advocate for energy storage and advancing solutions to address climate change. ESI is an industry representative body working to promote the development of energy storage in Ireland and Northern Ireland in achieving national decarbonisation goals.

Bobby Smith, head of Energy Storage Ireland.

“Ireland is going in the right direction as regards energy storage — we’re good, but we could be a whole lot better,” he explains. “Essentially, we have around 1 gigawatt on the island of Ireland today, and that has been quite a good success story in terms of building out batteries and what they can do in benefits to the electricity grid. However, we are going to need to go a lot further, particularly by 2030 and beyond is we are really going to get off our reliance on fossil fuels and deliver a clean, secure energy system.”

Analysis being conducted by ESI suggests that Ireland is going to need up to seven times more energy storage than what is being stored today.

“That said, the Government does realise that, and there is a national energy storage strategy in place, published last July and which is very welcome.”

While the strategy does set out the direction to get to the long term storage needs — but at a very slow pace to give industry the confidence to develop and provide the right signals for investors to come into Ireland.

“The issue is that there is no investment signal for long-duration energy storage. The electricity market was designed around short-term price signals and optimising the costs of fossil fuel generators. Large infrastructure projects require certainty to secure financing. The RESS scheme exists for wind and solar PV and the capacity market for conventional generation to provide this certainty. We need to do the same for energy storage as a national strategic asset.”

An emerging sector with potential for 5,000 jobs

Long-term duration storage is a key piece of the solution that bridges the gap between renewables and zero-carbon electricity.

“The climate action plan has set ambitious targets for carbon emission reductions in the electricity sector by 2030. However, the EPA recently projected that we will overshoot our carbon budgets this decade by nearly 5 million tonnes of CO2, even with onshore and offshore wind and solar PV providing 80% of our electricity by 2030.”

He adds that while energy storage is a relatively new sector in Ireland, given the targets our renewable ambitions, it is a sector with significant potential.

“KPMG did some analysis on the jobs potential in the energy storage sector and they looked at 2035 and different scenarios for the build-out and growth of energy storage. It depends on the pace of renewable build-out and the types of energy storage technologies that ultimately are deployed but its estimate was that this could create up to 5,000 jobs in the energy storage sector alone. And that’s not even counting the indirect jobs through, for instance, the data industry that energy storage will help support.”

In addition, there is the design, engineering, construction and maintenance roles, added to by legal and consultancy. “There will be a whole range of careers and roles to support the sector — and, most importantly, many of the local, because these projects are being typically being built all around the country.”

Today in the renewables industry, there is a small pool that has built out the onshore wind sector and now those concerned are being pulled into offshore wind, solar and increasing energy storage as well.

“As that is putting a strain on the resources we have today, we need to grow that and build out those skills gaps through new graduates coming into the sector, through learning opportunities and through specific training courses, which are really important. There is a huge benefit in terms of the jobs potential for local economies, similar to the wind industry.”

David Post, President of the European Association for Storage of Energy.

In a first-of-its-kind piece of research, in 2024, ESI worked with Interactions Research on a nationwide survey on public awareness and attitudes towards battery energy storage using a representative sample of Irish adults. With very little upfront information, people were asked how familiar they are with battery storage systems.

“It is not surprising that there is still some way to go in terms of public familiarity with battery storage with only one in three being familiar with the technology. However, the survey then presented some information on storage and its main use cases and there is a clear understanding of the benefits that storage can bring with over two-thirds of Irish adults selecting lower electricity prices as a key benefit, closely followed by security of supply.”

Given the recent price shocks in the energy market it is no surprise that energy prices and price stability came out as clear issues for consumers.

“Battery storage can play a key role here in displacing more expensive fossil fuel generators during times of peak demand and smoothing out price volatility in the market.” When making the link between renewable energy and storage, four in five said they favour the idea that Ireland should be embracing more renewable energy, and two in three favoured the government investing in and enabling battery energy storage.

“So while we need to do some work in terms of building awareness of battery energy storage, it is encouraging to see there is a good understanding of the benefits it can bring and significant support for investment both in renewable energy and storage.”