The effect of REFIT on Irish electricity prices

Arbeitspapier

This paper evaluates the likely effect of REFIT, the Irish scheme to support renewable electricity generation, on the wholesale price of electricity. The cost of REFIT is passed on to Irish consumers. Here we calculate that when there are 4071MW of on-shore wind in the Republic of Ireland the cost of the REFIT scheme is between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of the gross wholesale price of electricity. Off-shore wind has higher levels of support than on-shore wind, as do technologies that are still in development such as wave and tidal. When off-shore wind, wave and tidal are added to the system, the cost of REFIT increases significantly. We argue that wave and tidal should be sustained with a different scheme that provides capital grants, and that off-shore wind that is channelled to exports should not be supported by Irish consumers.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ESRI Working Paper ; No. 374

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Electric Utilities ; Energy: General ; Alternative Energy Sources
• Subject: Ireland ; renewable electricity ; feed-in tariff

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Devitt, Conor ; Malaguzzi Valeri, Laura
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)
• (where): Dublin
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/50072
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET