Power to the people!

Communities all over the country may be set to generate their own renewable energy and help reduce prices.

Communities all over Ireland can slash their energy costs by collectively producing their own renewable electricity .

That's the inspirational message of Community Power, who did just that and is now a national energy supplier.

On some comparison websites it is even listed as having the cheapest standard electricity prices in Ireland - excluding discounts.

It all started in 2012 after some locals did a course in renewable energy and wanted to use their skills to benefit their community, where new jobs are scarce.

Others joined – and invested - and Templederry wind farm was developed with two massive turbines perched on the northern edge of the Slieve Felim mountains.

These two turbines alone now generate enough energy to power a sizeable town.

“All the shareholders got their money back,” says Sarah, one of the founders who now helps run the operation.

“Those two turbines: they're big. Two could power up to 3000 houses in Nenagh. So imagine if every little community had that - or a solar farm?”

With no other communal energy projects yet up and running, Community Power has to buy wholesale energy from the commercial market. This means when market costs rise, so do its prices for consumers quite quickly. Other providers also hike prices but may do so more slowly.

However, Community Power customers are not tied into a fixed term contract. “There's a contract but it's not fixed term,” explains Sarah. “If the price happens to go up, you can leave because there's no penalty (unlike other providers).”

Right now Community Power manages to offer the cheapest standard electricity rate in Ireland (excluding ‘loss-leader’ discounts), according to comparison site Selectra.ie.

If other communities followed, they could generate their own power and reduce prices.

Across Europe, thousands of community stations are helping to bring down prices – with hundreds in Austria alone.

It has been Government policy for years to do the same  – with Community Power doing their best to help other groups.

Since Templederry’s turbines started turning in 2012, “no other community project has been (fully) commissioned across Ireland which is a total disgrace,” Sarah says.

“There are so many communities interested. We're all for helping some of them but it's hard to get them over the line. We're very close but you get so far and then it’s ten steps back.”

Some community groups have had to fund feasibility studies costing thousands of euros in the past - only to be then asked for more feasibility studies.

Having proven such a success locally, Community Power’s aim is to help other groups build their own generating stations to create a national network of low-cost communal energy.

Sarah explains: “We're trying to help communities in Ireland build and own large enough renewable energy systems which hasn't been done before. Community Power would buy that energy and people in those localities can sign up.  So for the first time ever you would have a community-owned renewable energy network bought and sold by the community.”

That dream makes perfect sense and dozens of community groups are still fighting to make it happen, albeit with mounting frustration at the level of bureaucracy involved.

Hundreds of such groups have been already set up in Austria for example, with thousands up and running across Europe.

A similar level of community involvement here would boost competition and help to lower prices.

And in 2022 new hope emerged with a new scheme called SRESS ( Small Renewable Energy Support Scheme) which generated a lot of enthusiasm.

But that soon turned to impatience as the long wait for even one new community generator of renewable energy still dragged on over the next few years.

Recently there have been some signs of progress at last. The terms and Conditions of the export phase of SRESS were published in December 2024 and the scheme opened for applications last January.

Sarah remains hopeful about plans for a community-based renewable energy network being finally realised.

“We're very, very close to getting over the line....Oh, God, like, painfully close!,” she says.