Should Coal Replace Coal? Options for the Irish Electricity Market. ESRI WP428. March 2012

The Moneypoint coal plant is nearing the end of its useful life and will need to be replaced. For Moneypoint’s replacement, we consider different types of baseload technologies: coal plants with and without carbon capture, combined-cycle gas plants and a nuclear plant. This paper compares how the different types of plant are likely to affect the net costs of the Single Electricity Market under a number of fossil fuel and carbon price scenarios and highlights issues that might be of interest to final consumers and policy makers, namely effects on short-run prices, emissions and energy security

Advertising to boost energy efficiency: the Power of One campaign and natural gas consumption. ESRI WP280. February 2009

In this paper we study the recent awareness and persuasion campaign launched by the Irish government to increase energy efficiency and we assess its effect on residential natural gas consumption. We first analyse changes in the daily consumption of natural gas and find that advertising leaflets had a significant effect on natural gas consumption. We then study three surveys administered to 1000 consumers prior to and during the campaign. This repeated cross-section allows us to determine that the efficiency campaign has increased self-reported interest in energy efficiency and awareness of behaviours that curb natural gas consumption. However we do not find any positive effect of the campaign on self-reported energy-saving behaviours

Goldilocks and the Three Electricity Prices: Are Irish Prices “Just Right”?*. ESRI WP372. January 2011

In this paper we analyse the 2008 electricity price in the Irish All-Island Market. We test whether this price is ‘efficient’ by comparing it to the electricity price in Great Britain. This analysis suggests that around €16 per MWh of the difference in wholesale prices between Ireland and Britain is due to differences in generating technology. The new wholesale electricity market for the island of Ireland appears to be working well – it is producing a wholesale price that approximates the long run marginal cost that would apply in a large liquid competitive market. In the British market the wholesale price appears to be below the long run marginal cost of producing electricity. Retail margins in Great Britain are high, especially for households. Only some of this margin compensates vertically integrated utilities for the low wholesale price. In the Republic of Ireland the retail margin was probably also higher than it should have been

Evaluation of the Effect of the Power of One Campaign on Natural Gas Consumption. ESRI Research Bulletin 2013/3/1

In this paper we focused on the effects of the campaign on natural gas consumption in the residential sector. Residential consumption of natural gas is mainly for heating. The campaign provided numerous tips on how to save electricity. The message relevant to natural gas consumption was that reducing the thermostat by 1 degree Celsius could reduce heating bills by up to 10 per cent

Medium-Term Review: 2008-2015, No. 11 May 2008

Despite the very real difficulties that are currently being encountered, the essential message of this Review is that the economy will eventually rebound, and return to its medium-term growth path. The analysis in the Review suggests that the Irish economy is resilient in the face of adverse circumstances. When we wrote the last Medium-Term Review in December 2005 we were more concerned that a misplaced sense of economic invincibility had taken hold in Ireland and we sought to draw attention to the very real dangers facing the economy at that time. Unfortunately, some of these problems have now come to pass (along with some we did not envisage). However, if properly managed the slowdown that is occurring in the economy today should pass and the economy should recover fully in the early years of the next decade

Advertising to boost energy efficiency: the Power of One campaign and natural gas consumption

In this paper we study the recent awareness and persuasion campaign launched by the Irish government to increase energy efficiency and we assess its effect on residential natural gas consumption. We first analyse changes in the daily consumption of natural gas and find that advertising leaflets had a significant effect on natural gas consumption. We then study three surveys administered to 1000 consumers prior to and during the campaign. This repeated cross-section allows us to determine that the efficiency campaign has increased self-reported interest in energy efficiency and awareness of behaviours that curb natural gas consumption. However we do not find any positive effect of the campaign on self-reported energy-saving behaviours.

Investment in electricity infrastructure in a small isolated market: the case of Ireland

Climate policy is driving an extensive deployment of wind generation in the Irish electricity market. This study evaluates the cost of increasing wind generation both to the system as a whole and to consumers for 2020. We consider different scenarios on fuel and carbon-dioxide permit prices and the extent of electricity interconnection with Great Britain. For a small and isolated electricity system such as Ireland, a high penetration of wind is economically sound only with increased interconnection to Great Britain, since wind generation would otherwise be curtailed. Not surprisingly, for low fuel prices the least-cost scenario contains low levels of wind generation whereas the opposite is true for high fuel prices. The findings highlight the importance of interconnection and its operation and governance. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.

The Likely Economic Impact of Increasing Investment in Wind on the Island of Ireland

Like most countries Ireland faces the double target of decreasing emissions and keeping energy costs low to maintain competitiveness of the economy. The two goals are not always compatible. This study measures the effect of increasing wind in electricity generation on the total electricity costs for the Island of Ireland for the year 2020 under a variety of scenarios on fuel and carbon costs, generating plant portfolio mixes and electricity demand growth. We find that with high levels of interconnection 6000MW of installed wind capacity are likely to reduce overall costs, especially if the price of natural gas stays high. The sensitivity of the results to the level of interconnection suggests that it is important for interconnection to be operated and governed as efficiently as possible. We also find that the deregulated all-island system will face major challenges moving into the future since returns to traditional fossil-fuelled plants might not be sufficient to create new (needed) investment when wind penetration is high.electricity/growth/Interconnection/investment/Ireland/returns to investment/wind generation

Goldilocks and the Three Electricity Prices: Are Irish Prices "Just Right"?

In this paper we analyse the 2008 electricity price in the Irish All-Island Market. We test whether this price is 'efficient' by comparing it to the electricity price in Great Britain. This analysis suggests that around ?16 per MWh of the difference in wholesale prices between Ireland and Britain is due to differences in generating technology. The new wholesale electricity market for the island of Ireland appears to be working well ? it is producing a wholesale price that approximates the long run marginal cost that would apply in a large liquid competitive market. In the British market the wholesale price appears to be below the long run marginal cost of producing electricity. Retail margins in Great Britain are high, especially for households. Only some of this margin compensates vertically integrated utilities for the low wholesale price. In the Republic of Ireland the retail margin was probably also higher than it should have been.electricity/Ireland/cost/Republic of Ireland