Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The legislation before the House today is about giving the ESB a legal basis to engage in the business of electronic communications services. Instead of using the wires, poles and pylons that form part of the national grid just for the provision of electricity, the legislation will enable the ESB to use the same infrastructure for telecommunications purposes - in other words, the business of mobile phones, computer data and television broadcasting. The Minister has already spoken about proposals to expand the remit of the ESB into broadband provision.

I welcome the potential broadening of the commercial scope of the ESB. Ireland's electricity distribution system has come a long way. I doubt if the engineers who back in 1915 first investigated the possibility of generating power from the waters of the River Shannon could have envisaged the scale of the technological advances that have occurred since. Allowing the ESB to compete fully in this growing sector and to facilitate competition by opening access to infrastructure is a good thing for consumers and also for the future of the ESB in what has become a technically and legally complex sector.

However, in considering today's Bill it is nigh-on impossible to ignore the proposal by the ESB's sister company, EirGrid, to double the capacity of the national grid by 2025. Such a significant change to the capacity of the future ESB network will have a significant bearing on the commercial scope of the ESB within the new parameters set out today. It would be by all means right and correct for ESB management to take this new legislation and to make commercial plans based on the existing capacity of the national grid. However, the ESB would be well advised to exercise caution in terms of any commercial agreements for broadband or any other form of telecommunications which relies on the expanded national grid infrastructure proposed under Grid25 and Grid Link.

Before Christmas I made a personal submission to Mr. Fintan Slye, the current CEO of EirGrid. Among other matters I requested the most up-to-date analysis EirGrid has of the technical need for the Grid Link portion of the €3.2 billion Grid25 project. I asked if he could show me the calculations behind the recommendations to build Grid Link. I got a surprisingly swift reply enclosing a link to a 400-odd page report called the Ten Year Transmission Forecast Statement 2013. It is about the same thickness as an old telephone directory and, to be frank, just about as interesting to read. Perhaps Mr. Slye thought I would not read it. In fact, the EirGrid report just confirmed what I already knew. The reason for the proposal to spend €3.2 billion of taxpayers' money to double the capacity of the national grid is to support a massive increase in renewable energy, mainly from wind power. Only a fraction of the wind energy generated would have anything to do with keeping on the lights in the State. EirGrid wants to double the capacity of the national grid mainly for the purpose of facilitating the export of wind energy abroad.

The numbers are very revealing. I am not an electrical engineer so I have no intention of getting technical but, very simply, according to EirGrid's calculations Ireland needs approximately 3,500 MW of wind energy to meet our EU renewable energy targets. We all know that a lot of wind farms have already been built and operate in this country, particularly in the south and west. Approximately 1,800 MW of generating capacity are already in place. Since 2010, according to EirGrid, the regulator has approved a massive 5,500 MW of wind turbine capacity. Even more surprising is the number of new wind energy applications currently before the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, awaiting approval, amounting to an amazing 23,000 MW. In order to meet the targets Ireland only needs 3,500 MW. The regulator has already approved twice what is needed and has another staggering 23,000 MW waiting in the wings. The only reason that is happening is because EirGrid is proposing to invest billions in the national grid for the purpose of exporting power abroad - in theory, to the UK and France.

In my submission to Mr. Slye I also asked for the market analysis that had been carried out to confirm that the UK and France actually need this power. According to the Irish Academy of Engineering there are many doubts about the existence of any market for this power. It appears there is enough wind in Scotland and nuclear energy in England to meet UK needs. EirGrid declined to make any comment on its market analysis for exporting power. I am beginning to wonder whether it exists at all.

I will conclude with one final point that was recently made to me by a constituent in County Wicklow. The wind energy for export strategy that has such a significant influence on EirGrid's €3.2 billion plans was conceived during the reign of its previous CEO, Mr. Dermot Byrne, who departed the company in September 2012. Barely a year after he retired from the position of EirGrid CEO, Mr. Byrne was appointed to the board of Element Power Ireland, one of the companies that has plans to carpet large swathes of the Irish countryside with wind turbines for export. It is time we had a second opinion.

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