Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept that there are plenty of opportunities and that at some point a qualitative approach must be taken to what is and is not used. Obviously, that will ultimately be dictated by how one sets the tariff or how the support mechanism is set. It is my understanding there are about ten wind farm projects that are held up, accounting for about 200 MW of electricity across the State if the existing REFIT scheme was addressed for onshore wind projects. Of course, the other technologies are exploratory. They are important, but they are going to be costly. However, the Minister is going to have to begin the process of looking at offshore wind projects and solar power and the sooner that happens, the better. It would be acceptable if he put some cap on it. Nobody is suggesting the entire stock in electricity generation be moved from one source to another. There needs to be a mix. It was always recognised in all of the strategic documents that there was a need for a blended mix of resources in order that we would develop the technology and, in so doing, bring down the cost of the generation of electricity. As the Minister knows, in the early stages wind power generation was a lot more costly than it is now. More efficient turbines are now on the market. I again ask that he give consideration to bringing forward the REFIT scheme in a much more timely manner and, obviously, introduce some capacity constraints.

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