Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I move amendment No. 14:

In page 5, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following:

"(8) Section 3 of the Statutory Instrument No. 60 of 2005, the European Communities (internal Market in Electricity) Regulations 2005 shall be amended to include the subsection (k) "to nevertheless allow communities who so elect to have only their own supply.".".

Amendments Nos. 14 and 15 are similar in intent to the previous amendment in that they seek to improve the possibility of development of renewable electricity supplies. Amendment No. 14 seeks to give greater flexibility to people wishing to develop their own electricity supply from wind, small-scale hydro, combined heat and power or biomass. An earlier amendment sought to introduce a similar provision in that we felt it was not necessary for the commission to regulate such electricity production in the same manner as it would in the case of a large-scale power plant provided the safety requirements, which would be managed by the latter sections of the Bill covering the safety procedures for electricity installations, were addressed. I cannot understand why we should restrict or impede in a bureaucratic or other manner people's development of their own small-scale electricity off-grid supply.

Amendment No. 15 may represent a more serious issue for larger-scale producers because it is clear that among the many difficulties facing particularly those involved in the development of wind farms one of the greatest difficulties relates to grid connection. While slightly complex in its wording, the amendment is intended to allow a wind farm operator to contest with the distribution system operator the standards, costs, method and means of any grid connection to be provided. For economic reasons we should provide greater flexibility as to the nature, standard and extent of a grid connection available to an operator of a new wind farm, who should be allowed to enter into negotiations for the construction of an alternative connection to the network while meeting the safety and other system requirements that the grid operator would undoubtedly be required to apply.

The need for such a provision was brought home to me at the recent annual conference of the Irish Wind Energy Association attended by most of the Deputies on this side of the House and some Deputies from the other side. One presentation dealt with the question of whether a grid connection should be provided overground or underground. The grid operator representative at the meeting stated that while cost differences existed, if the grid operator, effectively the ESB, was providing the network connection, in many cases it would be more expensive than if the wind farm operator provided the connection. We should provide flexibility to allow an operator to negotiate with the network provider to allow connection to proceed in the correct way. While both are technical amendments, one assists with small-scale generators and the other is of significant importance to wind farm development.

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