The decision by Ireland’s utilities regulator, the CRU, to approve up to 500 MW of long-duration energy storage procurement has been welcomed by Energy Storage Ireland (ESI) as a “starting point”.
The procurement will be technology-neutral, service-based and open to projects with a minimum four-hour duration for import and export. It will be structured as a competitive tender with a revenue floor capped by levelized cost of storage. For revenues above the floor, the revenue sharing ratio will be 70:30, with 30% going to consumers.
Eligible projects will have to have a minimum capacity of 20 MW for hybrid or 75 MW for standalone and a maximum capacity of 100 MW. Projects are required to have a round-trip efficiency of at least 75%.
ESI has been calling on policymakers to approve LDES capacity procurement for a long time, with Bobby Smith, the organization’s director, pointing out that LDES will strengthen security of supply, help stabilize volatile prices, and store excess wind and solar generation to release back into the national grid during peak demand and praising the “genuinely consumer-focused measure.”
However, Smith warned that the 10-year contract length the framework stipulates is significantly shorter compared to other markets, most notably the UK’s cap-and-floor LDES procurement scheme which has 25-year contracts. The relatively short contract period in Ireland could deter potential investors, and the ESI has recommended that the CRU extend the contract length to around 15 years to deliver full value to consumers.
The Irish market has long waited for a proper LDES scheme, and now the CRU and Irish grid operator EirGrid must deliver the framework and ensure developers are on board. The normal grid connection process applies.
“This scheme finally gives storage developers a level of certainty,” said David Rossiter, ESI Senior Communications and Public Affairs Specialist. “That is what unlocks investment, from securing sites to committing capital, and developers already have a large pipeline of projects ready to go.” Revenue uncertainty has been a big roadblock for Irish BESS in the past, as ESS News has reported.
Rossiter added that the CRU’s green light will likely usher in a new round of LDES project development. The regulator published its decision paper in October 2026, which was based on a previous consultation period with EirGrid that closed in November 2025 and the grid operator’s subsequent recommendation paper shared with CRU in July 2026.
Both Rossiter and Smith reiterated that the 500 MW target is the minimum starting point and a first step. Research on Irish LDES from August estimated that Ireland needs at least 92 GW of LDES capacity to integrate renewable generation and avoid curtailment, which remains a big problem in a country that imports large quantities of fossil fuel every year while wasting a lot of wind and solar.
The CRU’s decision document described the approved volume as “a ceiling rather than a target.”
Contracted assets will retain full SEM market access. The tender weighting criteria will be 50% in favor of cost, 30% impact, and 20% connection method. Hybrid and co-located LDES projects are particularly welcome, the CRU noted. Co-located hybrid sites will be obliged to have at least 30 MW of TSO-connected renewable generation.
All projects have to have a connection offer at qualification, and all must have obtained an agreement at the tender stage, as well as land rights.
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