The Irish Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) 6 Terms and Conditions are out, marking the most significant redesign of Ireland’s renewable auction model to date. Wind and solar will now compete in two separate, technology-specific pots, each scored on price (85%) plus two new EU-driven, non-price criteria (15%).

The scheme’s underlying goals haven’t changed: 80% renewable electricity by 2030, backed by 9 GW of onshore wind and 8 GW of solar, at a cost consumers and communities can live with. However, the path to securing support looks very different.

The EU is driving two of the biggest changes, rewarding:

• Components demonstrating supply chain resilience (i.e. supply from EU/EU-approved sources); and
• System flexibility via use of a secondary technology, or the integration of storage > 2 hours.

Below we discuss the three key changes, the more detailed need-to-knows, and the next steps.

1. The Three Key Changes

A) The Auction Pots – Eligibility and Qualification Requirements

RESS 6 is now designed to operate with two parallel technology pots. One will allow onshore wind to compete with onshore wind. One will allow solar to compete with solar. Within these technology-specific auction pots, price will account for 85% of the project’s score in the competition. Scoring of supply chain resilience and energy system integration (i.e., the use of a secondary technology and storage score) will together account for 15%, with 5% allocated to supply chain resilience and 10% allocated on a scaled basis to energy system integration. The 5% supply chain resilience core, however, doesn’t scale. It is awarded on a pass/fail basis, with the full 5% given when the Minimum Resilience Requirement is met and 0% when it isn’t.

B) Energy System Integration

The energy system integration score is further broken down, allocating up to 2.5% to a secondary technology and up to 7.5% to storage. Projects with a secondary technology (e.g. hybrid wind/solar projects) will be required to bid into the project’s primary technology auction pot. The 7.5% allocation to storage rewards batteries, but only if you add enough battery capacity to matter. There’s a minimum bar: your battery’s storage capacity (in MWh) has to be at least equal to your project’s generating capacity (in MW). For example, a 10MW solar farm needs at least a 10MWh battery just to qualify for any storage points at all. It could be a bigger battery for a shorter duration, or a smaller battery that can discharge for longer, as long as the MWh-to-MW ratio is met. RESS payments track what the generation equipment produces, not what the battery discharges. Storage is metered separately from generation, so it doesn’t attract RESS support, but it remains free to earn revenue through other routes, such as the wholesale or balancing markets.

C) The Prohibition on Withdrawal

The Prohibition on Withdrawal (section 5.5) is also new and noteworthy. It essentially states that once a Generator has signed the Implementation Agreement and received its Letter of Offer, it’s locked in. This means (generally speaking) it can’t pull out of RESS 6, refuse to honour its obligations, or try to get released from them, not even partially.

2. The More Detailed Need-to-Knows

A) Pre–Qualification Need-to-Knows

• New Pre-Qualification Criteria: To qualify to take part in the auctions, applicants must demonstrate (i) responsible business conduct; and (ii) cybersecurity and data security.[i] Directors are obligated to make declarations to demonstrate how projects comply with the new criteria.
• Eligible Technologies:RESS 6 has been redesigned to run as two parallel auctions for wind and solar. Projects with a secondary technology (e.g. hybrid wind/solar projects) will bid into the primary technology auction pot.
• Project Eligibility: There are four routes to eligibility for the following project categories. (a) Independent New Project; (b) a RESS 4 or 5 project that withdrew following a Relief Event; (c) a separately metered extension/phase; and (d) a RESS 1 project that missed its Longstop Date. Repowered projects can fall within category (a) Independent New Project once they comply with the requirements set out in para 6.7.
• Planning and Grid Connection:Projects must have a full and final grant of planning permission (not just a notification of decision) and must not be subject to a decommissioning condition that would require closure before the end of the support period. A valid grid connection agreement is also mandatory, and the project must be a “Grid Contracted Project” at all times.
• Site Control:Applicants must demonstrate control and access rights to the project site, and each application must relate to a single, contiguous or near-contiguous site.
• Finance:Projects must be financeable at the submitted offer price, with evidence of funding or credible expressions of interest from investors or lenders. Submitting an offer is described as a firm commitment to develop the project, with no contingency based on financing being secured.

B) Auction Process and Bid Bonds Need-to-Knows

• Pots and Target Volumes: For each Pot, the Minister will set two volume figures, measured in gigawatt-hours per year to determine: (i) the maximum amount of capacity the Pot is expected to procure; and (ii) the minimum amount. These two figures will then be published in the Auction Information Pack before the auction, so bidders know the volume boundaries they’re competing within.
• Renewable Capacity Factor: For onshore wind, this is set at 35%. For solar, it is 11%. These are unchanged from RESS 5.
• Auction Structure: RESS 6 uses a sealed-bid auction format. Qualified Applicants must submit a single offer price (€/MWh) and offer quantity (MW). This will account for 85% of the project score. Thereafter, supply chain resilience and energy system integration will account for 15% of the project score.
• Bid Bond: Each applicant must submit a bid bond of €6 per MWh (annual deemed energy quantity) to participate. This will be required by the Bid Bond Posting Date. The bond is forfeited if the applicant fails to submit an offer or execute the Implementation Agreement and provide the required performance security.
• Winner Selection: Offers are ranked by Composite Evaluation Score (Price Score + Resilience Score + Energy System Integration Score), the highest first, per Pot, until the Pot’s Auction Starting Quantity is met. Support is provided for a maximum of 16.5 years.
• Performance Security: Successful applicants must provide a performance security of €20 per MWh (annual deemed energy quantity) in the prescribed form. This will become due by the Implementation Agreement and Performance Security Return Date. Failure to provide this security results in loss of award and forfeiture of the bid bond.

C) Payment Need-to-Knows

• Feed-in Premium (FIP): RESS 6 support is structured as a two-way floating feed-in premium. The “Strike Price” is set at the successful offer price and indexed annually. Payments are made to or from the supplier based on the difference between the strike price and the market reference price (typically the Day Ahead Market price).
• Annual Reconciliation: Payments are forecasted and reconciled annually, with adjustments for actual generation, market prices, and capacity market revenues.
• Unrealised Available Energy Compensation (UAEC): This survives unchanged from RESS 5. Projects are compensated at the strike price for “available” energy that could not be generated due to curtailment or oversupply (but not for network constraints).
• Community Benefit Fund: All projects must establish a Community Benefit Fund, contributing a minimum of €2/MWh of metered and unrealised available energy. For onshore wind, direct household payments are required for residents within 1km of the project (tapering to a lower amount out to 2 km) with at least 40% of funds allocated to community initiatives.

D) Ongoing Obligations and Compliance Need-to-Knows

• Enduring Eligibility: Projects must continue to meet all qualification criteria throughout the entire support period, not just at the time of application. The Minister, the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, and the System Operators may audit compliance at any time. Failure to maintain eligibility entitles the Minister to terminate participation and draw down on the Performance Security. Any material changes require Ministerial approval.
• Milestones: There are ten key milestones. Milestones 1–2 (execute Implementation Agreement; issue Performance Security) have just a Final Date, with no Interim Date. Seven milestones (e.g. grid connection agreement, funding certificate, second-stage payment/Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) entry, Responsible Business Conduct & cybersecurity compliance evidence, installed capacity commitment, Community Benefit Fund (CBF) registration, Supplier Public Service Obligation (PSO) submission) have an Interim Date and Final Date. Missing an interim date allows the Minister to begin drawing down the Performance Security at a rate of up to 4% per month (capped at 25% of the total). Missing a final date results in the Letter of Offer being revoked and the full remaining Performance Security being drawn down. Milestone 10 (Commercial Operation) is a special case; missing the interim-equivalent date instead leads to an “erosion of the contract term” equal to the delay; missing the Longstop Date triggers revocation and full drawdown.

• Relief Events: RESS 6 includes relief events for delays outside of the participants control (e.g. delays caused by the System Operator (SO)/ Judicial Review delays).

3. Next Steps

The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment have published the RESS 6 Terms and Conditions. EirGrid (the auction administrator) have also just released the final RESS 6 Auction Timetable. The Qualification Information Pack will follow. Qualification will open on 30 July and close on 27 August. RESS 6 represents the most significant redesign of Ireland’s renewable auction model to date. The shift from a single price-based clearing mechanism to a two Pot, multi-criteria scoring system, layered with new resilience and energy system integration requirements, a hardened prohibition on withdrawal, and a materially expanded milestone regime, means the margin for error at qualification and bid stage is narrower than in any previous round. Given the scale of what’s now locked in once an Implementation Agreement is signed, and the complexity of scoring hybrid and storage configurations correctly, project sponsors should take legal advice early, ideally before the Qualification window closes on 27 August, to stress test eligibility, bid strategy, and contractual exposure under the new Terms and Conditions. We would be glad to assist.

[i] Note: The EU Net Zero Industry Act requirement to demonstrate the ability to deliver the project fully and on-time was already baked into the auction design.