Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

In the Citizens' Assembly on climate, it came up that there should be a microgeneration scheme and there should be a tariff. It was said that people should get money back if they generate excess renewable energy in their homes. They should be paid by the electricity company. It was said this was the case in other countries so why not in this country? I wish this had gone live earlier. We are waiting for the CRU to approve a scheme later this month and, after that approval is obtained, we will put in place a compensation scheme setting the amount of money a person will get per unit of power.

The Deputy knows the will is there to do it. He will have seen there are solar panels on half the buildings in the North. They are further north and have less solar that we have. At the same latitiude, in Hamburg, for example, there are solar panels on every building. There is no reason we should not have that in Ireland, other than the regulatory regime in place. I am delighted it is changing and expect that, from the end of this year or the start of next, people will be compensated or paid for the solar they generate in their homes.

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