Mr. Paul Allen:

In the scenario, 15% of the time the energy supply is backed up by a mixture of synthetic methane and biogas and it is roughly one third biogas and two thirds synthetic methane. The powering down is pivotal. Society knows it is using too much energy. We are awash with designer obsolescence, such as washing machines and fridges that break far earlier than they need to. That has been challenged by legislation in France and we need to do so here. If they were not deliberately designed to break, we could get a lot more life out of all the material goods that we spend energy and materials manufacturing. Then there is the issue of hauling identical products around when we can selectively re-localise production of stuff. People are aware of that. We see things like repair cafes springing up in towns and cities. People are fed up of throwing things away that they know could be fixed.

The cost of hydrogen is something we have to think about but if we are looking at the rate of fall of renewable energy, as we see offshore deployments scaling up around India, they are going to come down in price. Having a mechanism for dealing with the peaks and capturing that energy is an added benefit. It is not really a cost. A peak in production will push the voltage or frequency up so we have to deal with that. Having that as a store is a benefit rather than a cost.

We have covered CCS fairly well. In response to Deputy Lawless, if we are going to be moving energy around with more interconnectors and if we are thinking about linking up, it is great to do models but they have to be rooted in the physics. It has to be rooted in the delivery of the well below 2° Celsius or 1.5° Celsius scenario of the Paris Agreement. We must think about how we can get the social licence for that. If we were to see Ireland's renewable resources as an intergenerational resource, not something to be taken by transnational corporations but something belonging to the future generations of Ireland, a bit like what Norway did with its North Sea oil and gas, that would create great potential excitement and opportunity for social licence. We should begin to think about it.