Ireland: Energy and Natural Resources

The Irish Government's Autumn 2026 Legislation Programme reveals an ambitious energy policy agenda spanning renewable heat obligations, private electricity wires, offshore grid financing, and district heating regulation. With multiple Bills progressing through the Oireachtas, businesses in the energy sector face significant compliance changes and new infrastructure opportunities that could reshape Ireland's electricity and gas markets.

This Q3 2026 edition highlights key legal and regulatory developments shaping Ireland's sustainability landscape, covering energy, infrastructure, and sustainable finance. The newsletter features insights from Climate Finance Week 2026 and explores legislative priorities for Europe's energy future during Ireland's EU Presidency.

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities has approved Grid Code modification MPID 345, introducing fault ride through, RoCoF and active power recovery requirements for transmission-connected demand facilities. Customers unable to comply must navigate a new Compliance and Derogation Framework, with data centres facing Demand Utilisation Thresholds that effectively limit their Maximum Import Capacity.

The Irish Government's Autumn 2026 Legislation Programme reveals an ambitious energy policy agenda spanning renewable heat obligations, private electricity wires, offshore grid financing, and district heating regulation. With multiple Bills progressing through the Oireachtas, businesses in the energy sector face significant compliance changes and new infrastructure opportunities that could reshape Ireland's electricity and gas markets.

Ireland faces a critical decision about nuclear energy: not whether to build a reactor today, but whether to preserve the option for the 2040s. With Small Modular Reactors emerging as the only viable nuclear technology for Ireland's small grid, and neighbouring countries already deep into their nuclear programmes, what groundwork must Ireland complete now to keep this low-carbon baseload option genuinely available?

As Ireland grapples with rising electricity demand from data centres and AI infrastructure while pursuing decarbonisation goals, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) have emerged as a potential solution to provide reliable...

The Irish Government's Autumn 2026 Legislation Programme reveals an ambitious energy policy agenda spanning renewable heat obligations, private electricity wires, offshore grid financing, and district heating regulation. With multiple Bills progressing through the Oireachtas, businesses in the energy sector face significant compliance changes and new infrastructure opportunities that could reshape Ireland's electricity and gas markets.

As Ireland grapples with rising electricity demand from data centres and AI infrastructure while pursuing decarbonisation goals, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) have emerged as a potential solution to provide reliable...

The European Commission has published its final Delegated Regulation establishing a common rating scheme for data centres, introducing electronic sustainability labels for facilities with at least 500 kW of IT power demand. The regulation incorporates significant changes from the draft version, particularly around nuclear energy consumption indicators, and will require data centre operators to understand complex conditionality requirements for energy procurement arrangements.