Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

As I said in my original response, the regulator took the view that wind energy projects could be developed without special support. The regulators are entitled to their view. It is not a policy decision by me. The current policy is that by 2010 we will provide 13.2% of our energy from alternative sources. What will emerge following the current review of the renewable energy development group, plus the wider review of the electricity market etc., which I have already announced, will form the basis for any new policies, not anything the regulator might say.

The Deputy mentioned the word "failure" in regard to AER VI, AER V and the other AER programmes. He is being unduly negative in this regard. My information is that the target of 13.2% will be met, which is reasonable. I agree with the Deputy that we must be much more ambitious in the future. When the renewable energy development group and the short-term analysis group have reported, we will need to have a wider debate on setting targets in the future.

The Deputy asked whether there were any more technical issues. I am not sure whether there are more technical issues, but some of the same technical issues are causing difficulties or being used in highlighting the difficulties with wind energy and putting it onto the grid in particular. The Deputy referred to some of them, such as code compliance, wind turbine modelling, wind forecasting techniques and so on. I am reliably informed at this stage that there is 80% certainty of the wind conditions a minimum of 24 hours beforehand, which appears to be good odds. There are other things like constraining off. The physical problems that must be overcome include grid development. The Deputy is correct that in some parts of the country the grid is weak. Wind farms would operate best in many of these areas.

On market support mechanisms, I said at the outset that one must balance a number of conflicting issues when making decisions such as this. There must be fair and reasonable returns for the people who initiate these projects, but one must also take into account national competitiveness and the interests of consumers. The more grants that are made available, if one decides to go that route, the greater the cost to consumers. The company concerned would like to see a system in place similar to the renewable obligation certificates, ROCs, system in the UK. My information is that this would be much more expensive for the country and consumers. For that reason, there is no proposal to go down that particular route at the moment.

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