All eyes on Ireland as incubator for fast response storage

Ireland may be an unlikely candidate to pioneer the world of renewables, but discussions at Solar Media’s Energy Storage Summit last week highlighted the country as an ideal incubator for early growth in the agile storage market, with mechanisms in place to ascribe specific value to ultra-fast response. Much of this discussion focused on the EirGrid Group’s multi-year DS3 program – to “deliver a sustainable electricity system,” with 40% of electricity from renewables by 2020. Ireland is among the world leaders in terms of wind power’s contribution to its energy mix – it provided just under a third of the country’s power last year. DS3 aims to increase the acceptable amount of renewable generation at any one time to 75%…