Connecting a Community led renewable Energy Project

To apply as a community-led project, your project must:

• Have a Maximum Export Capacity (MEC) greater than or equal to 0.5 MW and less than or equal to 5 MW;
• Utilise one or more of the following renewable energy generation technologies (and not in combination with non-renewable generation technologies); wind turbines (wind), solar photovoltaic panels (solar), hydraulic turbines (hydro) excluding pumped storage, waste to energy projects, biomass projects and biogas projects.

In addition, projects meeting the following community-led definition requirements:

(a)  At all relevant times, be at least 100% owned by a Renewable Energy Community (the "Relevant REC") either by way of (i) a direct ownership of the ECP project's assets, or (ii) a direct ownership of the shares in the generator, and

(b)  At all relevant times, at least 100% of all expected profits, dividends and surpluses derived from project are returned to the Relevant REC.

A Renewable Energy Community means a legal entity:

(a) which, in accordance with applicable law, is based on open and voluntary participation, is autonomous, and is effectively controlled by shareholders or members that are located (in the case of SMEs or local authorities) or resident (in the case of natural persons) in the proximity of the ECP project that is owned and developed (or proposed to be owned and developed) by that legal entity;

(b) the shareholders or members of which are natural persons, SMEs, local authorities (including municipalities), not-for-profit organisations or local community organisations;

(c) for any shareholder or member (with the exception of "Sustainable Energy Communities" as registered with SEAI), that shareholder or member's participation does not constitute their primary commercial or professional activity;

(d) the primary purpose of which is to provide environmental, economic, societal or social community benefits for its shareholders or members or for the local areas where it operates, rather than financial profits;

(e) in respect of which, each shareholder or member is entitled to one vote, regardless of shareholding or membership interest, and

(f) which is, or which has at least one shareholder or member that is, registered as a "Sustainable Energy Community" with SEAI.

To apply, a Community-led Project Declaration Form (174 KB) must be completed by a company director (the Applicant).  You must also complete either an NC5 Application Form (413 KB) or an NC5A Application Form (259 KB).  It is important that you complete all relevant sections of the declaration form and the application form.  All site details and applicant information should be uniform across both forms.  More detailed information on the application process is available on our website at this link.

A valid SEC must be registered with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).  Community-led project applicants are required to include the name of the SEC and briefly outline the relationship between the Applicant and the SEC in a Community-led Project Declaration Form.  For more information on SECs, please visit the SEAI website.

We have developed an interactive capacity heatmap interface, containing capacity information on all of our 3-phase LV, MV and HV DSO substations which is available to view at this link.  Please read the accompanying notes and important details section on this page to understand what the map does and does not provide.

At any time.  Unlike category A (Batch), there is no application closing date for community-led projects.  You may apply at any time within a full calendar year.

No.  You can apply for a community-led project with or without planning permission.  However, you will be prioritised in the applications process if you have secured planning permission and you will be required to have planning permission in order to receive your full connection agreement.

Community-led projects will receive a connection assessment prior to receiving their connection agreement, which will outline the proposed connection method and associated connection costs.  This connection assessment will be valid for two years from date of issuance and will provide you with the opportunity to progress your planning permission application.  If a project does not secure planning permission within two years, the connection assessment will lapse, and the project may need to be re-studied which may result in an alternative connection method and associated costs.

Yes.  All community-led projects, with or without planning permission, will receive a connection assessment (connection method and cost).

No.  If your project is successful in being included into a batch (ECP-2.1, ECP-2.2, ECP-2.3) and you have not secured planning permission, your project will be issued with a connection assessment (connection method and cost) and you will have a two year opportunity from the date of assessment issuance to gain planning permission.

If you have secured planning permission, you must complete the relevant planning permission section of the NC5 Application Form (413 KB) or the NC5A Application Form (259 KB) and submit the updated form to DSOgenerators@esb.ie.

If you have not secured planning permission within the two years following connection assessment issuance, the connection assessment will be deemed lapsed, but your application will remain open for processing subject to planning permission grant.  Your project will then be re-studied at no additional cost at the next available opportunity and may be processed on either a batch or non-batch basis.  You will need to pay the balance of the application fee before you will receive your connection agreement.

The NC5 form (full form) should be completed if you have identified the specific generator manufacturer detail and you would like the technical study to be processed using the specified data.  The NC5A (reduced form criteria) may be used where the specific generator manufacturer detail is unknown, and the technical study will therefore be completed using assumed data.  If an NC5A form is used, you are required to provide the specific data a year in advance of energisation.

If your community-led project has an MEC greater than 0.5 MW, you are required to pay an initial application fee deposit of €2,000 (incl. VAT).  If your community-led project has an MEC of 0.5 MW, you are required to pay the full application fee (incl. VAT).  To view the full application fees, please click on this link.

Yes.  You may re-apply under ECP-2 as a community-led project, provided that you complete a Community-led Project Declaration Form and your existing application is deemed valid.  If you wish to change any project details of the existing application, a new application form must be submitted using the same site location (grid co-ordinates) and technology type.  You may apply to reduce the MEC of your project, if you so wish (increasing the MEC will be deemed a new application).

If you have a valid unprocessed application on file for a specific project and provided that this project meets the definition of a community-led project, you will not have to pay an additional application fee deposit if you re-apply for ECP-2.  The previous application fee deposit will carry forward as your ECP-2 application fee deposit.

Batch processing is the new form of group processing under ECP.  These batches are essentially groupings of projects which have been deemed successful.  ECP-2 will have three batches in three years (ECP-2.1, ECP-2.2, ECP-2.3) which will determine when a project will receive a connection assessment (connection method and cost), for example, the community-led projects which are successful in the ECP-2.1 batch will receive their connection assessments in 2021.  Each batch will target a total of 15 community-led projects.

Yes.  This can happen if the batch for successful category B (non-batch) projects is undersubscribed.  Category B projects are allocated also allocated 15 projects per batch and any unused allocation will be reallocated for use by additional projects from category C (and vice versa).

Batch formation takes place from October - December for each Batch period.  Successful projects will be assigned a node and may be grouped together with other projects at a node.  Projects will then be assigned a quarter (e.g. Q1, 2021) for connection assessment issuance.  Following batch formation, a list of the successful community-led projects will be published on our website.

This means that you currently have a valid application on file which could be considered for inclusion in future ECP-2 batches (ECP-2.2, ECP-2.3).  You are now considered as an existing applicant and you will not need to re-pay the application fee deposit to be included in future batches.  The ECP-2.2 list of successful applications will be published on our website in 2022 following batch formation and community-led projects will be prioritised by planning permission grant date and then by received complete date.  Please find more information on what is meant by "received complete date" at this link.

Yes.  The Government announced in February 2021, that there will be a new requirement that all projects applying to the community category in future RESS auctions must be 100% community owned.

We expect the current ECP-2 Ruleset (457 KB) will be reviewed to reflect any potential new requirement for community-led projects following the government announcement regarding RESS.  ESB Networks may request a revised community led project declaration form or NC5/NC5A application form for applicants seeking to be processed in ECP-2.2.  The government announcement regarding RESS will not impact ECP-2.1 applications currently being processed.  We will update our website if any changes have been made to the ECP-2 Ruleset and notify any existing ECP-2 applicants.

If you have an existing application submitted before ECP-2 and now wish to apply as a community-led project, you must complete a Community-led Project Declaration Form and your project may be prioritised into a batch by the planning permission grant date or by received complete date (if you have not secured planning permission).

If you are submitting a new application, you will be prioritised by planning permission grant date (if you have secured planning permission) and then by earliest received complete date.  Please find more information on what is meant by "received complete date" at this link.

No.  Once a batch has been formed, backfilling is not possible as it may affect the allocation of projects at the node and delay the processing of other community-led projects.

In advance of the meeting, you will need to consider if you plan to build your own dedicated connection (known as contestable builds) or request ESB Networks to build the connection to the grid (known as non-contestable.  You should also consider whether you plan to connect via overhead line or underground cable, as the connection costs will vary depending on the preferred connection type.  The grid connection will always be based on the Least Cost Technically Acceptable (LCTA) connection method (generally an overhead line connection).

ESB Networks will discuss your proposed connection method for your project and clarify any queries you may have in relation to your project or the connection process.  You may also be given an opportunity to reduce your MEC or withdraw from the ECP-2 process if significant uprate works have been identified.

The application fee balance will only be requested if your community-led project has secured planning permission.  Once you have notified us that planning permission has been confirmed and have completed the relevant planning permission section of the NC5 or NC5A form, we will request the application fee balance and you will have one month to make this payment.  Once payment has been received, we will issue you with your connection agreement.

If your community-led project has secured planning permission, you may request the application fee balance at any stage within the 2 years following receipt of your connection assessment.  Once the application fee balance has been paid, we will issue you with your connection agreement.

Once we have issued you with your full connection agreement, you will have one month to accept this offer and pay the relevant First Stage Payment or withdraw from the process.  If you do not accept the connection offer within one month, your connection agreement will be deemed as lapsed.

You can read more information about the ECP-2 process for community-led projects in the ECP-2 Decision Paper and subsequent ECP-2 Ruleset (PDF | 457 KB).  More information is also available on our guide (PDF | 908 KB) to connecting your community-led renewable energy project to the electricity network and on our website at this link.