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

The immediate priority for me is the renewable heat incentive scheme because it can help us to reach our 2020 targets. It is expected that we will pretty much meet our renewable electricity targets for 2020 based on what is already in the pipeline. The Deputy and his colleagues have been very critical of me in the past because of the cost of the public service obligation, PSO, levy. In approving the new technologies, be they offshore wind, solar or other technologies, the funds will come from consumers' pockets. We must be conscious of this. The difficulty is that there are enough applications within the system for solar photovoltaics; if every other power generation plant and wind turbine in the State was switched off on a sunny day in winter, not only would we have enough electricity to meet our needs in Ireland, we could also export it. Irish consumers are the ones who would have to pay the subsidy which would be about treble the subsidy currently payable for wind generated electricity. I need to try to get the balance right and that is what I am trying to do.

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