Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses from the ESB, the Department and the SEAI. Mr. Griffin mentioned that communities have to be at the heart of it. I come from the midlands and I agree that we need wind energy but question the approach of the Government and companies driving the wind farm industry in my area. We must take a responsible approach but the opposite has been the case in the Department's approach. There has been a failure to bring forward guidelines for wind farms or to put any kind of regulatory framework in place for the location of wind farms. In the meantime, the wind farm industry has been allowed to steamroll over communities and to drop large turbines, up to 170 m in height, right around counties such as Laois and Offaly. From what Mr. Griffin said today I welcome the fact that communities will be at the heart of it. It is good news if we are going to change that approach. I will leave the committee happy this evening. Could Mr. Griffin elaborate on the issue?

In terms of the midlands and the just transition, as a former employee of Bord na Móna and the ESB I have a particular interest in the issue, as do many people in my constituency who work in both companies. I am genuinely concerned about the situation. I do not see even an outline plan in place for what will happen after 2030. It is almost 2019 now. Mr. Griffin should not take what I said about the wind farm guidelines personally, but the Department has failed. Four Ministers have also failed in that regard. We are on the fifth Minister now. I do not know whether the failure lies with the Ministers or the civil servants or if it is a combination of both. Could Mr. Griffin outline why we cannot have wind farm guidelines? My view is we do not have them because somebody wants to allow wind farm developers to put wind farms in place and then to close the door once the horse has bolted. That is what it looks like and that is how communities and county councillors see it in areas that are affected. It is not just councillors from the party I represent, Sinn Féin, but those from all parties.

In terms of peat and 2030, I do not see any plan in place. I pass the power station in Edenderry almost on a weekly basis. The same is true of west Offaly, Ferbane and Lanesborough. I do not see any plan to create a biomass industry for those power stations. There are limitations. Reference was made to the scarcity of biofuels. We must be careful with them. We do have potential for biogas. The ESB mentioned that. I understand it is starting to look seriously at the option now. We have a significant agriculture sector, which is not a bad thing, but we also have a significant amount of agricultural waste and that is a problem. From talking to people who have developed plants, in particular the one in Nurney, I believe we have an opportunity for jobs, to reduce greenhouse gas emission and to get money into rural communities. This could be a win-win situation if we develop the biogas industry.

To go back to power stations and the transition, we accept that the willow scheme was not a success. There is a lot of marginal land in areas around the power stations.

What trials are being done in, for example, north Offaly where there is a large amount of marginal land? I have heard references in this meeting and other meetings of this committee to people being retrained to work in other parts of the energy sector. A person who is 45 or 50 years of age and has been driving a tractor for Bord na Móna for the last 20 years may not be up for being retrained for retrofit work on housing schemes and so on. It may not be easy to do that. My view - I said this to Bord na Móna - is that the transition is not happening at sufficient speed.

On electric vehicles, as mentioned already the anxiety is around range. For people living in rural areas, the electric car is not an option at this point. Also, I would not be happy to charge an electric vehicle at night if I thought that the energy being used to do it was coming from the interconnector from Britain, generated by nuclear power or by coal from Moneypoint because that could make things worse. There are a number of parts to this puzzle. There is no point in everybody driving around in electric vehicles if the energy being used to power them is being generated by dirty coal or nuclear power. I ask the witnesses to address that issue in terms of the transition. Another serious concern is that the charging network does not yet exist. The ESB is currently providing it free of charge but that cannot continue because it is a commercial semi-State company. I ask the witnesses for the SEAI and the Department to set out the plan for a comprehensive electric vehicle charging system throughout the State because we need a plan if this is to work.

On schools and farm buildings, three years ago my parliamentary assistant and I went to see the co-operative wind farm model in Templederry, County Tipperary. On the journey there we noted as we passed the valley that a large agricultural shed, covering approximately an acre and a half, was being erected. We stopped to take a closer look. I recall saying to my assistant that the shed presented a great opportunity for a solar panel. I am sure some Department provided grant aid for that shed, which is fine. I have no problem with that. There are many new schools in my constituency, for which I have already credited the Government. Almost every school in Portlaoise is new and all of them have large south facing flat roofs, particularly Scoil Bhríde which opened recently, but not one of them has a solar panel. Where is the joined up thinking from Government? Is it that Ministers are not knocking heads or that the Secretaries Generals of Departments are not communicating? What is happening? I have heard it said that we will be generating power when it is not needed. Over the next six months, from winter to spring, all of our schools will require heating. If we install solar panels on school roofs and there is a spillover during the summer, we can turn them off. There are solar panels on buildings in India and Spain where the sun beams at between 40o to 45o Celsius and they are able to manage it. They use this power to heat water and so on during the day and it can be banked and used in other ways. If it can be done in those countries, where it is about twice or three times as hot as it is here, surely we can do it here where we have a moderate climate. I do not buy the excuse that we would be generating power that is not needed. Why are we not putting solar panels on our school roofs?

I met the IFA today at its annual lobby, as I am sure did all members here. For the first time ever, one of the issues on its shortlist of requests which it puts to Deputies at budget time was support for renewable energy. It has moved on this issue. That is a step in the right direction. What is happening at departmental and SEAI level? I ask that the ESB witness address the issue of charging points.