*Senator Timmy Dooley. Photograph: Martin Molloy
FOR THE second day in a row, an amber alert was issued on the electricity market.
On Wednesday morning, “a generation shortfall” in Ireland was cited by the Single Electricity Market Operator (SEMO) as the reason for the amber alert. SEMO is a joint venture between Eirgrid and SONI, the Northern Ireland grid operator.
Such an alert is issued when there is a threat to the supply of electricity. In a statement, Eirgrid said: “The alert means that the buffer between the demand for electricity and the available supply is currently smaller than optimum”.
Off the back of this, Clare Senator, Timmy Dooley (FF) has written to the Chair of the Oirechtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action Brian Leddin TD (GP) to call for the Committee to be reconvened in order to discuss the worsening and precarious energy security of the country.
Mountshannon native Dooley who is a member of the Committee on Environment and Climate Action said the national grid was left “in a very precarious position where the demand for electricity is reaching very close to the level of available supply. We need to begin to devise our contingencies in terms of energy security and we must be transparent with the public while working with our utilities to ensure that we maintain a secure supply of energy as we head into the winter period and beyond.
“It’s imperative the committee is reconvened at the earliest possible stage to facilitate hearings with the relevant stakeholders within the countries energy companies and to co-ordinate the states response to the crisis,” he added.
