Ireland’s Grid at a Crossroads: How ESB Networks and the EU Batteries Regulation Are Shaping the Future of Storage

As Europe races to decarbonise its energy systems, one question hums quietly behind the headlines: who will manage the batteries that power the transition?

In Ireland, that answer increasingly points toward a coordinated framework led by ESB Networks; the Distribution System Operator (DSO) responsible for planning, building, and maintaining the national electricity grid, working alongside EirGrid, the Transmission System Operator (TSO) and market facilitator.

While neither body can own or commercially operate batteries under EU unbundling rules, both play critical roles in how storage connects, performs, and delivers value to the system.

From Trials to Transformation

Through initiatives such as the Dingle Project and various Local Flexibility Demonstrations, ESB Networks has shown how distributed storage, electric vehicles, and smart devices can stabilise local grids and defer costly reinforcements. Building on those lessons, EirGrid’s Demand Flexibility Product (DFP) is now introducing market-based mechanisms for flexibility, targeting over 100 MW of responsive capacity from batteries, aggregators, and community energy groups. These steps signal a structural shift: flexibility is no longer experimental; it is becoming an operational asset class for Ireland’s energy transition.

The EU Batteries Regulation Arrives

In February 2024, the EU Batteries Regulation (EU 2023/1542) replaced the 2006 Directive, establishing the world’s first fully circular, legally binding framework for battery lifecycle management, from sourcing and design to recycling and reuse.

For Ireland, the Regulation carries indirect but significant implications for DSOs, TSOs, and flexibility providers:

• Procurement with Proof: Manufacturers and importers must demonstrate CE conformity, sustainability, and due diligence compliance. DSOs and TSOs, while not directly regulated entities, must ensure that connected assets come with proper certification and documentation.

• Data by Design: Grid operators must be ready to record and exchange essential battery data: chemistry, capacity, manufacturer IDs, and, in the future, Battery Passport identifiers through secure and interoperable systems.

• Circular Accountability: Coordination at end-of-life will matter. Safe decommissioning, repurposing, and recycling processes (Articles 47 & 56) will increasingly touch connection policy and asset traceability within network records.

Put simply, while the Regulation governs economic operators, it reshapes the compliance environment that DSOs and TSOs must manage.

Why It Matters for Ireland…and Europe

Ireland’s unbundled grid model makes it an excellent case study for Europe. ESB Networks cannot own large-scale batteries, but it is developing the data, connection, and interoperability standards that enable others to participate transparently.

If the emerging flexibility frameworks, such as EirGrid’s DFP and ESB Networks’ local connection standards, are aligned with the traceability and sustainability principles in EU 2023/1542, Ireland could position itself as a regulatory early mover, demonstrating how flexibility and circularity can coexist in practice.

The Timeline and the Task Ahead

By February 2027, all industrial and EV batteries above 2 kWh placed on the EU market will require a digital Battery Passport, recording technical and sustainability data for regulators, recyclers, and users.

That gives DSOs, TSOs, aggregators, and manufacturers roughly two years to prepare, harmonising connection documentation, updating procurement templates, and building interoperability pathways between grid data systems and battery lifecycle registries.

Early movers will benefit from operational efficiency, reputational trust, and smoother compliance when traceability becomes non-negotiable.

The Takeaway

Ireland’s grid may be small, but its direction is decisive: flexibility and compliance must evolve together.

If ESB Networks continues refining its network codes and data frameworks in alignment with EirGrid’s flexibility markets and the EU Batteries Regulation, it won’t just integrate new storage assets; it will demonstrate how Europe can connect policy, technology, and trust in one interoperable system.

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