Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I have had a chance over the past couple of days to study the presentations that EirGrid and the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities have provided to the Government. Having looked at those presentations, I am confident that we will avoid blackouts and brownouts this winter, but nobody can guarantee it for certain because there are certain factors that are outside of our control.

It is important to point out that the peat power stations in the midlands were not closed as a consequence of a Government decision, and nor were they closed at the behest of the Green Party. They were closed because of planning and legal issues. If people have a perception that the Government decided to close those plants, that is factually incorrect. It is important that everyone here should acknowledge that.

The Government has been advised both by the utility regulator and EirGrid that they have identified specific challenges to ensuring continued electricity security of supply which they are currently in the process of addressing. This is very much affected by the fact that two major gas-fired power stations in Ireland are out of action - one in Huntstown in my constituency and another in Cork - and we need to get those back online in October and November. We are confident that this will be the case but we cannot guarantee it absolutely. Also, there has been increased demand and some of the anticipated new power stations have not been developed as planned.

Something being considered as part of the plan as well is the deferral of the expected closure of power stations that make up approximately 25% of our conventional electricity generation capacity over the coming years. A number of plants were due to close over the next couple of years. It is likely that those decisions to close will have to be deferred until we have sufficient wind and gas developed to allow us to close those stations.

There is a short-term immediate risk to the supply of electricity. That is being caused by a number of factors, including those two power stations that are closed, wind not blowing as much as was anticipated and problems with the interconnector between the UK and Ireland.

There have been a number of system alerts which indicate an elevated level of risk, including two in early September. However, it is important to say that these alerts did not impact on the electricity supply to any customers. This risk will reduce with the upcoming return to operation of the two major gas-fired power stations and that is due to happen in October and November.

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