Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)

I would like the Minister of State's full attention for this. This is not a laughing matter, I am afraid. Crecora Mills installed a 400 kW solar farm in July 2023. It produces 20% of the power to run the mill. The company applied to the ESB to sell the excess power to the grid at that time. It took the ESB two years to process the application and it is looking for €3.8 million from Crecora Mills to upgrade the substation in west Limerick in order to allow the company to sell its clean energy to the grid. We are talking about an energy crisis, and the ESB is looking for €3.8 million. During the first part of the meeting on the matter, the ESB looked for €1 million. Ten minutes later, it was seeking €1.5 million. When Crecora Mills asked for that in writing, the ESB went up to €2 million. Now it is asking for €3.8 million. How can the Minister of State sit over there knowing that this is happening in respect of solar farms throughout the country?

I am in favour of wind energy in circumstances where the health implications are taken into account. I am for solar energy because it can have a dual use. In fact, it can have a triple use. If solar farms are located a certain distance apart, sheep can graze underneath them and you can get the fodder from between them, such as round bale silage that can be used for fodder. There is a triple use. ESB Networks is charging €3.8 million to a company to supply green energy in order to bring down electricity costs and nothing is being done about it.

Representatives of Crecora Mills met two representatives, one from Fine Gael and the other from Fianna Fáil, in County Limerick and they have done nothing. What is the Minister of State going to do about it? The Government is roaring about green energy. When is it going to take the ESB to task? It costs €50 per MWh to produce power. The Government capped costs at €120. The ESB is making money hand over fist from electricity. Why is that the case? It is because the Government imposed the cap of €120 per MWh, which has allowed the ESB to make such profits.

If electricity is produced through the use fossil fuels, higher tariffs are charged. The ESB includes a reference stating that 70% of your bill is from green energy but it charges the tariffs relating to fossil fuels. Now we have the likes of Crecora Mills. Not only that, there was a place in Ballyhea that did the same thing two years ago and the ESB looked for €1 million to provide clean energy. We need something done about this quickly.

See this speech in context