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Lower electricity prices for customers should be the result of increasing the supply of renewable energy in Ireland, says the country's energy market regulator. Michael Tutty, chairman of the Commission for Energy Regulation, points out that in further support of an all-island grid study which found that the network in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland could accommodate a 42% renewables penetration, a later study by the market regulators in the two countries concludes that the new single electricity market (SEM) that now operates throughout both jurisdictions is indeed robust enough to allow this level of renewables. The study also notes that wholesale prices would be 15% lower in a 6 GW high wind scenario that assumes the country meets its target, compared with a low wind scenario of just 2 GW. Tutty warns, though, that exporting large quantities of wind would require a different approach to grid expansion and the SEM.