Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is an interesting issue which the Deputy has raised before and I thank him for raising the matter and his interest in it. One of the central themes in the Green Paper on energy policy is citizen empowerment. In 2014, my Department began a public consultation process which included a series of stakeholder seminars on the various priority areas in the Green Paper, covering a number of topics, including empowering energy citizens and putting the energy system on a sustainable pathway. A recurring message coming from both the submissions received and from the feedback from the seminars was the role that community energy could play in our future energy systems. The views submitted will be taken into account in the formation by me of the new energy policy framework.

It is important to note the various community level initiatives currently supported by Government, including the development of community energy through the better energy areas and communities programme which is administered on my behalf by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. The programme allows community and locally based organisations to apply for funding on a competitive basis to support sustainable energy upgrades to existing buildings and facilities. It also promotes the creation and development of locally based entities that can engage and mobilise community resources to lower energy bills and boost local employment. A number of district energy schemes and community co-op projects have been supported, including district heating schemes in Tralee and Longford as well as the Aran Islands energy co-operative, where the retrofit of homes and buildings on the islands has been funded with the ambition of installing community wind turbines.

Additionally, the European Union (Energy Efficiency) Regulations 2014 set out a range of requirements for the promotion of energy efficiency, including a requirement for the SEAI to undertake an assessment of the potential for the application of cost-effective district heating and combined heat and power, CHP, in Ireland. The development of biomass-fuelled CHP and district heating, as well as improving energy efficiency, has the potential to contribute to our renewable energy targets. The comprehensive assessment is expected to be completed during 2015.

See this speech in context