Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

Yes, the Minister is correct about that but there are substantially more groups with planning permission than can be granted connection.

This problem will get worse. Most in the industry believe the Minister has given a general price support allocation for offshore wind farms which will result in large scale farms being proposed. In the overall context of the Minister's target of 4,000 MW to 5,000 MW generation by 2020 from wind energy, most of that potentially could come from offshore sources.

Fine Gael strongly supports the need for energy storage and interconnection so that Ireland can become the green-eyed Arabs of Europe. This phrase was coined by a Norwegian expert who described herself as coming from the blue-eyed Arabs of Europe. The same expert recently explained to me that when Norway first discovered offshore oil 40 years ago, exploiting it was initially dismissed as too expensive due to restrictions in drilling technology. Now, the successful exploitation of its offshore natural resources is seen as the country's greatest progressive thinking. She claims Ireland is not thinking ambitiously in exploiting its wind resources. We need to take notice of this and examine the facts and figures as to what is possible.

Interconnection is a good idea but are we ambitious enough with it? The North-South interconnector has a 400 MW capacity while the proposed east-west one will have a 500 MW capacity. Norway has a 2,800 MW interconnector between it and Sweden; a 1,000 MW one with Denmark; a 100 MW one with Finland and a smaller one with Russia. It is building a 580 km, 700 MW interconnector with the Netherlands. That is a total of 4,650 MW of interconnector capacity coming in and out of Norway. If Ireland is going to be ambitious about renewable energy and complete the Minister's vision in what can be achieved in the next 20 years, interconnection must play a far larger role than we are envisaging. EirGrid will be central to that planning.

We must also ensure the next proposed interconnector does not take eight years to complete from initial planning to final construction. The private sector company building the interconnector between the Netherlands and Norway, almost 600 km long, can do it in three years. I accept complexities arise with connections, construction, seabed surveys and planning permission. Those problems, however, exist elsewhere and they manage to get over them.

The North-South interconnector is a misnomer as it is part of an all-island grid linking Northern Ireland with the Republic. A classic interconnector is a DC line that electricity can be taken from and put into on an end-to-end basis. The proposed North-South interconnector through counties Meath, Cavan, Monaghan and into Northern Ireland will be a 400 kV AC line.

I give credit to North East Pylon Pressure which has undertaken major studies to make the case to the Minister, the Government and Opposition that technology allows this infrastructure to be placed underground. I welcome the Minister's appointment of an independent consultant to examine this claim. It will have large implications on future grid development projects which will be important to facilitate the renewable energy projects we are promoting. Renewable energy cannot work without an adequate grid to facilitate it.

A cost analysis of using overhead cable for the proposed North-South interconnector may show it would be cheaper than putting it underground. However, if the public relations exercise with people living in the affected areas in counties Meath, Cavan and Monaghan is not managed effectively, objections and obstruction to it could mean construction could take up to six years with rising costs. In that case, the final analysis might show it may well be cheaper to put the infrastructure underground in the first place. The Minister needs to take this type of thinking into consideration.

I will return to other issues such as ownership of the grid on Committee Stage.

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