STUDY - Regulatory barriers in Ireland: findings and recommendations

The Irish islands have been frontrunners in the energy transition. Multiple community-led renewable energy projects have been developed on islands such as the Aran islands, Cape Clear and Bere island. Several actions taken by the Irish national government have contributed to this objective, for example, an uplifted grant for islands within the energy efficiency programmes, that allows inhabitants on islands to get 50% more funding. Nonetheless, several challenges for the clean energy transition on the islands remain. Based on an inventory of the current legislation, the Clean energy for EU islands secretariat carried out surveys and interviews to identify the barriers to clean energy deployment and the solutions to overcome them.