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

We expect to get approval in the coming weeks from the European Commission for the support scheme for renewable heat. That will stimulate the biomass sector. Prior to that we established Bord na Móna BioEnergy because there is no point having demand unless we have a supply chain. That was established this time last year and that supply chain is now in place.

We will also support biogas, which is something about which Deputy Stanley feels very strongly, under the support scheme for renewable heat. We are engaged through Gas Networks Ireland on a working group on district heating which will also provide demand in terms of the bioeconomy aspect.

In regard to solar PV, we will have a microgeneration scheme operational before the end of this year. There are technical challenges with that but I want a scheme that is not just for this year and that can be expanded and developed in the coming years.

In regard to large-scale projects, that will be part of the renewable electricity support scheme. There are 6.5 GW of applications onto the grid. To put that into context, the total peak demand in Ireland on a cold winter's day is 5 GW, so we have more demand for connection than we can use on the heaviest loading day in this country. The pent-up demand is large. We we will never meet that scale of demand but we will be facilitating getting some of those onto the grid as quickly as possible.

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