Mr. Frank Daly:

ESB has a number of hybrid connections but many others have them as well. Some of our biggest competitors in the country have built infrastructure all around the coast because that was how to strategically access fuels, historically. We are not alone. On the whole island, I reckon there are ten or 12 hybrid sites which could provide 4 GW or 5 GW, which would create significant competition. There is competition for access to the sites themselves. There is also the issue of those sites being able to accelerate the development of the whole industry. Because that infrastructure is in place, there is a real issue as to how quickly we can roll out an industry if we are not using hybrids.

The development of this type of infrastructure around the coast is extremely difficult. Hybrids will deepen the competition in the auctions that will come in phases 2 and 3 and in phase 1 if they are involved.