Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

I thank Deputy Mulherin for raising the issue. It is something we will have to deal with much more substantially in the future.

The seasonal and annual mean wind speeds per county have been modelled by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, which has responsibility for the production of the national wind atlas. The mean wind speed figure might provide an indication for a county and a useful comparison of a county to other counties but local factors are always crucial in producing the actual mean wind speed at a site. Such local factors include altitude, aspect, topography, land use and exposure. As a result, the mean annual wind speed at different locations within a county can vary greatly. A particular site's annual mean wind speed can be estimated using the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland's online wind atlas which is available on the SEAI website. This will provide a better indication of the potential mean wind speed in a locality as opposed to the county's mean figure.

At a national level the estimated accessible wind resource on land in 2020 is 12,000 MW using the methodology developed by SEAI. My Department is in discussion with the SEAI regarding plans to update this information and data. The SEAI advises that the accessible resource estimate accounts for the following constraints among others: minimum recommended spacing between turbines; extracted wind speeds below 7.5 m per second; buffer zones on and around habitation, roads, lakes, infrastructure and airports; cost; and social acceptance of wind turbines. Current installed renewable generating plant capacity is at 1,776 MW. Estimates for the amount of installed renewable energy capacity needed to reach our 2020 targets are in the order of 4,630 MW to 5,800 MW. Clearly, the accessible resource far exceeds what will be required for domestic needs.

High fossil fuel prices and geopolitical uncertainty underline the importance of renewable energy for security of supply and sustainable energy production. It is clear that renewable energy has a crucial role to play in providing us with a cleaner and more sustainable source of fuel in the context of climate change. The European Union has also recognised the important role that renewable energy can play. To ensure member states harness the benefits of renewable energy, each country has been given a binding renewable energy target that it must achieve by 2020. Ireland's target of 16% overall of all energy consumed across transport, heating and electricity is a five-fold increase on where we were in 2005 and, while very challenging, is deliverable. Ireland has one of the best wind resources in all of Europe. The bulk of our overall renewable energy target will be met through wind. This is because of the scale of our wind resources. By 2020, some 36% of our consumption in the electricity sector will be from wind generated electricity.

We have made great strides in Ireland in the last decade in increasing our use of renewable energy. In 2003, only 4.3% of our electricity consumption was from renewable sources. At the end of last year, this was in excess of 13%, mainly due to the large increase in wind energy. Wind generated electricity is supported through a feed-in tariff scheme known as REFIT. This means that a minimum price is paid to renewable generators over 15 years to allow them to finance renewable projects. Studies by EirGrid and the SEAI have shown that wind energy reduces the market price of all electricity at certain times, which benefits consumers and offsets any costs of the REFIT scheme. Developing a large amount of renewable energy over the next decade will mean that significant electricity grid upgrades are needed. EirGrid's Grid 25 strategy and implementation plans set out how this can be done. New electricity infrastructure is necessary to transport this renewable electricity. What we will see over the next decade is a transformation of our electricity landscape from one where we are highly dependent on fossil fuels to one where renewable energy makes a significant contribution. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, attended the British-Irish Council meeting with the Taoiseach in London yesterday. The considerable potential for close co-operation across these islands in the development and trading of renewable energy was the main focus of the agenda at that meeting. We will be working with the UK, Northern Ireland and Scotland to deliver on this shared opportunity and challenge.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I hope the reply was of some benefit.

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