Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question.

The Energy White Paper, Ireland's Transition to a Low-Carbon Energy Future, published in December last, sets out a vision for transforming Ireland's fossil fuel-based energy sector into a clean, low-carbon system by 2050.

The EU renewable energy directive set Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy demand from renewable sources by 2020. Ireland is committed to achieving this target through meeting 40% of electricity demand, 12% of heat and 10% of transport from renewable sources of energy, with the latter transport target also being legally binding.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, has calculated that 25.3% of electricity, 6.5% of heat and 5.7% of transport energy requirements were met from renewable sources at the end of 2015. The SEAI analysis also shows that 9.1% of Ireland's overall energy requirements in 2015 were met from renewable sources and has estimated that this avoided over €286 million of fossil fuel imports.

The Government has a range of policy measures and schemes to incentivise the use of renewable energy and although good progress towards the target has been made to date, meeting the 16% target remains challenging. The renewable energy feed-in-tariff schemes support the development of a range of renewable electricity technologies including hydro, biomass combustion, biomass combined heat and power, landfill gas and onshore wind.

My Department is currently developing a proposed new renewable electricity support scheme and a new renewable heat incentive scheme, designed to assist us meeting our targets. The introduction of any new scheme, including the overall costs and technologies to be supported, will be subject to Government approval and state aid clearance from the European Commission.

In addition to our onshore wind resource, bioenergy, solar, offshore wind and other technologies may play a role in diversifying our renewable generation portfolio over the period to 2030.

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In the transport sector, Ireland aims to meet its renewable target mainly through the increased use of sustainable biofuels, with electric vehicles also making a small contribution. A further increase to the obligation rate in the biofuels obligation scheme will take effect from 1 January 2017 when the rate will increase to 8% by volume.

The renewable energy directive provides a comprehensive framework for member states to work towards achieving individual and EU renewable energy targets, including mechanisms for countries to work together such as statistical transfers, which allow member states to meet their targets by purchasing credits from member states that overachieve on their renewable targets. The SEAI has estimated that the cost to Ireland of meeting our overall renewable energy targets other than through domestic measures may be in the range of €100 million to €150 million for each percentage point by which Ireland falls short of the overall 16% renewable energy target. While all options will be kept under review, the focus of my Department is on the implementation of the range of actions set out in the White Paper that will enable our transition to a low-carbon economy.

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