Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 28 February 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals and Impact of Brexit on the Irish Energy Market: Discussion

5:00 pm

Mr. Jim Gannon:

In response to the question from Deputy Dooley, targets remain extremely challenging. We do the forecasting exercise every year as to whether we will meet them. As we get closer to 2020, they become more challenging and it becomes more challenging to address that gap. I am given hope by what is coming down the line, in particular the fact that there will be a renewable heat incentive that will hopefully come into being towards the end of this year, in the fourth quarter. That will have an impact on heat. There are indications that we may see something on renewables in transport. Efficiency is at the core. If we can achieve greater efficiency between now and 2020, it reduces our ask in terms of renewable electricity and renewable gas to support that. It is one of the most effective ways of decarbonising. Energy efficiency helps to solve some of those issue and we should push harder for it. It is extremely challenging and becoming more difficult but certainly we are working hard towards it.