merrion street

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As I understand it, this Framework project will be looking at how future internet technologies can be applied to advance smart energy systems. The project is a very international and very collaborative, bringing together twenty energy and ICT companies, R & D centres and universities from twelve European countries in seven field trials.

A combination of geographical circumstance and technical ingenuity has caused Ireland to become the perfect place to undertake smart energy systems development work and, in particular, to test the application of information and communication technologies to electricity grid management in order to more efficiently and effectively deliver energy services. Our status as an island on the periphery of Europe, only weakly interconnected with neighbouring energy supply systems, places an onus on us to be creative in how we manage our energy systems, and in particular, our electricity supply systems. We are fortunate to have world class utilities in Ireland; since the 1970’s ESB has been exporting its expertise in this area around the world. We have also attracted to Ireland, and developed in Ireland, large and small companies in the information, communications and control sectors which are leading edge in what they do. Thirdly, we have a good third level education and research system which is getting to be very good at harnessing the talent of our young people in areas which are of strategic importance to our economic development.

The role of innovative technologies in making our energy systems more efficient and more sustainable is an area we highlighted during Ireland’s recent European Presidency. I hosted a high-level conference of 320 senior energy figures from 30 countries during which many presentations showcased evidence of impressive results from incorporating more intelligence into energy products and services. The European Commissioners for Research and Energy launched a milestone Communication on Energy Technologies and Innovation, which effectively set out the energy technology strategy for Europe, and which will inform the content and shape of the Energy component of the upcoming Horizon 2020 R & D programme - the successor programme to the Framework Programme which is supporting this project here today.

We have had a Smart Grid Working Group in place for several years now to provide the integrated planning for the many strands of activity which are necessary to harness the enabling power of smart grids to assist us to meet our challenging energy and climate change targets. This group, comprising DCENR, SFI, IDA, EI, EirGrid, ESB Networks, CER and SmartGrid Ireland and convened by the SEAI, has produced two useful documents: one setting out our stall invites potential partners to work with our established players as we travel our smart energy systems journey.

The second document is “Ireland’s Smart Grid Roadmap”. This sets out, in a very clear manner, the necessary policy framework and support, infrastructure, technology & research, and customer engagement actions which we must engage in, and sets them in the timelines required to meet our aspirations out to 2050. The analysis underpinning this Roadmap shows that, we can make significant carbon savings, substantially reduce import costs and create more than 100,000 jobs.

The results are impressive and in order to facilitate this we would, within the next 10 years, be required to -

establish a test bed facility, strengthening Ireland’s position as a leader in smart grid technology research

develop an overlay of secure, high speed communications onto the electricity system

The activity which is being launched here today is a good start to this work. These trials will also use the state-of-the-art technology provided by the Exemplar Test-bed, demonstrating its importance as a test bed to advance telecoms research in Ireland.

FIBRE TO THE BUILDING

Government approval for legislation to be drafted to enable ESB with a joint venture partner to roll out fibre along the electricity network was given just last Tuesday. This is an important first step towards the implementation of ESB’s “Fibre to the Building” project.

PROJECTS OF COMMON INTEREST

I am also pleased to announce here today that the High-Level Decision Making Body for European Projects of Common Interest in Energy Networks and Regional Initiatives, at its meeting on Wednesday of this week, approved the final regional lists for electricity, gas and oil infrastructure projects. The ESB Networks-led North Atlantic Green Zone Smart Grid Project was one of the projects approved for PCI status. This is a tremendous endorsement of both the project and the project team from the four utility companies involved, and will greatly enhance the ability of this project to attract funding from the Connecting Europe Facility when this becomes available.

As I said earlier, I am here today to show Government support for the Irish trials component of this FINESCE project and to congratulate the partners in being awarded 3.3 million of EU funding to implement it. ESB Networks, Intune Networks and TSSG at Waterford Institute of Technology will work with European partners Ericsson, Alcatel Lucent, Orange Labs, Alstom and the RWTH research centre to test the application of advanced internet technologies and architectures to support smart grid applications for:

balancing the electricity system through dynamic control of electric vehicle charging

enhancing the functionality and efficiency of utility networks through advanced optical burst telecommunications switching technology

I congratulate all concerned and I wish the project every success.