Energy Projects Re-wired

The General Scheme of the Private Wires Bill marks a significant step towards reforming how electricity connections are regulated in Ireland. It sets out a new framework for private wires, enabling direct connections, hybrid projects and EV charging, while retaining regulatory oversight. Our Energy team explains what the proposals mean in practice, where key uncertainties remain, and why developers, energy users and investors should engage early as the regime takes shape during 2026.

What you need to know

• The General Scheme of the Private Wires Bill sets out a new framework for regulating electricity lines in Ireland, with detailed drafting expected in 2026
• It enables greater flexibility for direct connections, hybrid projects and certain EV charging arrangements, subject to oversight by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU)
• The proposals introduce new CRU licensing and permissions regimes for private wires, with different cost and compliance implications
• A new safety framework will also apply to internal collector cable systems
• Key issues, including tariffs and fees, technical standards and ESB step-in rights, remain to be clarified as the legislation and policy progresses

The Irish Government has approved and published the General Scheme of the Private Wires Bill, clearing the way for detailed drafting to begin in 2026. Building on the Private Wires Policy Statement issued in July 2025, the General Scheme outlines a new legislative framework that will significantly reform how electricity lines are regulated in Ireland. It is intended that the framework will allow for greater flexibility for EV charging, hybrid projects, and direct connections between generation, storage and customers. At the same time, it will ensure robust safety, technical and regulatory oversight by the CRU.

Criteria for all energy projects seeking a private wire

Drawing on principles set out in the Private Wires Policy Statement, the General Scheme provides that the CRU will not allow an energy project to construct a private wire unless the application sufficiently demonstrates to the CRU, in consultation with EirGrid and ESB where relevant, that the private wire:

• Will promote the use of renewable, sustainable or alternative forms of energy taking into consideration project-level security of supply concerns
• Will not interfere with the operation of the national grid and national security of supply, and
• Will not interfere with any planned expansion or reinforcement of the national grid

The Private Wires Policy Statement had set out a policy objective that private wires should be used only where a lower-cost, grid-based solution is not available within a reasonable period of time. This is not reflected in the General Scheme. The interpretation and application of these criteria will determine the extent to which private wires can be developed in practice. The draft clearly envisages that private wires will be used to progress renewable energy projects. It remains to be seen how the requirement to take account of project-level security of supply concerns will be applied.

Parties involved in private wires will not have any wayleave or compulsory purchase order rights over lands, so developers will need to secure land rights by agreement with the landowner. The General Scheme does not clarify the position on the use of public lands and, in particular, regarding the use of public roads for the purposes of laying private wires.

Private wires will also have to comply with safety and technical standards and procedures. These will be developed by the CRU in consultation with ESB, EirGrid and the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment.

CRU licensing of private wires to connect generation and storage projects directly to a customer

Where a new generation or storage project wishes to construct a cable to connect directly to a customer or electricity undertaking, rather than exporting to the national grid, it may be able to apply to the CRU for a private wire licence. If granted, private wire licences will be subject to a licence fee and tariffs.

CRU permissions for hybrid projects and adjacent third-party customers

The CRU will be able to grant permissions for private wires:

• Where more than one generation or storage technology intend to share a single grid connection, including if there are multiple legal entities involved, and
• To allow a customer self-supplying electricity to generate electricity onsite and supply it to a separate customer on a contiguous premises

The use cases for these permissions are closely aligned with the general policy objective of allowing more than one legal entity to participate at a single generation site in specific instances. The private wires permissions regime will hopefully enable new contractual arrangements to emerge between third parties involved in a single generation project and allow for greater efficiency and collaboration in this regard. The technical standards and associated costs for private wire permissions are expected to be lower than those applying to private wire licences.

“Step-in” right of ESB

The General Scheme envisages that the CRU will also have the power to grant ESB a limited “step-in” right to take charge of a private wire. This includes:

• For the purpose of asset decommissioning and removal in the interest of public safety where the original private wire licence holder is unable to decommission or remove the wire, and
• Where it is viewed that the maintenance and operation of the wire by ESB would be beneficial to the operation and development of the national grid

The explanatory notes to the General Scheme note that “any transfer of ownership may be subject to compensation as agreed between the system operator and the private wire operator”. Developers will need to understand the specific nature of this “step-in” right from a legal perspective. For instance, there are specific considerations regarding how any “step-in” right might interact with land agreements and financing arrangements put in place for projects. Compensation arrangements will require further development, including clarity on the process to apply where the level of compensation cannot be mutually agreed.

Local authority authorisation of electrical lines for EV charging

The General Scheme also provides that local authorities can grant permission for the running of electricity lines in public or shared spaces to enable electric vehicle charging for domestic premises. Responsibility for this process is allocated to local authorities to align with existing road opening licensing procedures.

New safety regulation for internal cabling will affect wind and solar farms more generally

The bill also proposes to introduce a new safety regime for so-called “internal collector cable systems”. This aspect of the bill is separate from private wires regulation. The CRU will be tasked with developing, in consultation with EirGrid and ESB, new safety and technical standards for the internal cable systems of energy projects, which consolidate generation from across the wider project generating sites for export at the project’s grid connection point. This aspect of the bill will be relevant to any generation projects that have multiple individual generation units connecting to a single grid connection point. These include wind farms comprising multiple turbines and solar farms made up of multiple solar generation sites. The bill envisages that the private wires aspect will progress first and that the regulation of internal collector cable systems will commence after this. We expect that the new regulation will be introduced in such a way that it will not have adverse retrospective effects on projects that are already operational or under construction. This aspect is not addressed in the General Scheme.

Green energy industrial parks and renewable energy communities

The explanatory notes to the General Scheme acknowledge that the reforms in the bill might not be sufficient to realise the full potential for green energy parks or renewable energy communities. Assessment of the need for further liberalisation to facilitate these use cases is deferred to the review period of the legislation. The review period is slated to take place no later than 10 years after the legislation comes into force. We expect that the further review of the legislation for green energy parks will be prioritised in line with the recently published Large Energy-User Action Plan.

Comment

The publication of the General Scheme of the bill is a welcome step towards making private wires a reality in Ireland. However, there are aspects of the new regime that require further elaboration, both within the legislation itself and subsequently by the CRU. Many of the elements included in the General Scheme had already been signposted in the Private Wires Policy Statement. We expect that additional detail of how the new regime will operate in practice will emerge as the bill progresses through the legislative process.

The recently published Large Energy-User Action Plan lists 17 enabling actions, one of which requires the enactment of private wire legislation. The timeframe provided for this is during 2026.

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The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other advice.