Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

As well as providing valuable information for both the consumer and electricity supplier, net metering allows micro-scale renewable energy projects in domestic settings to export electricity to the grid. The typical electricity meter installed by the ESB in the past will not operate in reverse and cannot therefore support a net metering programme. The smart metering programme will resolve this barrier in time. However, I am examining alternative ways of integrating micro-scale renewable energy systems into the electricity grid as soon as possible.

An alternative approach is to provide a guaranteed price for electricity exported to the grid from micro-scale projects. The renewable energy feed-in tariff, REFIT, support scheme operated by my Department provides a fixed price to electricity producers. However, it also relies on electricity suppliers' voluntarily contracting with electricity producers to purchase the power produced. Suppliers have demonstrated in the past that their interest is in purchasing power from large-scale projects producing electricity in commercial quantities only. Micro-scale plants are of a much smaller size and require a different solution outside the REFIT programme.

My Department is currently working closely with the Commission for Energy Regulation and other stakeholders to put in place in the short term an appropriately structured payment system for micro-generated electricity exported to the grid, which will operate separately from the REFIT mechanism. In addition, Sustainable Energy Ireland is proposing a micro-generation pilot programme under which research and field trials will be conducted, including support for between 50 and 60 installations of micro-scale projects on a pilot basis. The field trials will address a range of issues, including grid connection and technical standards, to ensure the power security, safety and quality of installations. CER and ESB Networks have amended the rules associated with connecting micro-scale plants so that generators of less than 6 kW on single-phase cables and 11 kW on three-phase electricity supply cables can now connect to the grid without prior authorisation.

Following these changes, SEI has arranged to publish a guide to connecting renewable and combined heat and power electricity production plants to the electricity network, including advice for micro-generators, which will be of assistance to those connecting micro-scale plant to the network. In addition, revised planning guidelines from my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government establish an exemption from planning consent requirements for micro-scale projects of suitable height. Work is now concluding on the design of the programmes referred to and I expect to make an announcement on the detailed arrangements for micro-scale projects in the coming weeks.

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