Dáil debates
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Adjournment Debate
Alternative Energy Projects
8:00 pm
Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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There has been a great deal of debate about the excellent wind speeds along this country's western seaboard. We do not have hard information about the nature of the resource that is available to us. It is like drilling a few trial holes for oil without being able to assess or quantify the actual resource we have. Notwithstanding all the fine talk about our renewable wind energy resource, and the fact that we have the best wind speeds in Europe, the reality is the development of our wind energy potential is decades behind that of our European neighbours. If we are to stop guessing, it is important for us to have an objective measurement of this resource. When we are telling investors about this commodity, we should be able to calculate the productivity and returns they can expect at certain heights, such as 50 m, 100 m or 150 m. Such bankable information is needed to ensure investment in the wind industry is fast-tracked.
Bankers demand quality of production data, known as P90 data, when they are deciding whether to invest in wind industry products. We need to be able to take such information to the ECB and the UK Treasury. Such data allow the Government to be realistic about the actual commodity when it is assessing how wind can contribute to the targets of producing 40% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 and reducing our carbon emissions. The British Government recently said it would be interested in subsidising the Irish wind farm industry. When the State deals with such investors, it should know with what it is dealing, for what it should be looking and the terms it should be striking. Information on the optimum locations and heights for turbines should be available to county councillors and planning authorities when they are deciding how to achieve the best productivity with the smallest number of turbines. We do not need wind turbines in every location where the wind blows. Therefore, we need to be able to plan and prioritise where we should, or should not, build this country's transmission grid.
The wind is an indigenous natural resource like oil, gas and peat. The State needs to avoid relying on investors to ascertain the value of this commodity. This is one of the recurring themes that have blighted the progress of the Corrib gas field, for example. It has been suggested that the best deal for Irish citizens was not obtained when a natural resource was being developed in that instance. Above all, the Irish public is entitled to get full knowledge about the value of this commodity. The people of the west will be required to accommodate the infrastructural burden associated with the wind turbines and transmission lines that have to be constructed for the benefit of the entire country. They need to be shown what is the prize and the community benefits for people living in the west. If the Government's ambitions for the development of our wind energy capacity and the achievement of European targets are to be fulfilled, ordinary citizens must embrace and participate in the journey towards this realisation. Although the people of the west are keen to play their part in this country's economic recovery, they do not want simply to be told by experts what is best for them. People are intelligent enough to appreciate a good deal if that is what is on offer. If wind is the resource to be developed, people will get behind it. Dialogue and transparency are needed as part of that.
Has the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources properly measured this resource? If not, does it intend to do so? A resource assessment could be conducted using the resource data held by Met Ãireann, Coillte and Bord na Móna. Separate assessments could be done if there are gaps in that information. I was a member of Mayo County Council when it was trying to develop a renewable energy strategy. When we sought resource data from semi-State and State agencies like Bord na Móna and Coillte, we found they were unwilling to share them with us even though their compilation had been paid for by Irish taxpayers. It is unacceptable that they refused to provide this data on the grounds that they were commercially sensitive. We are working in unison in this respect or we are not. Does the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources accept that this resource needs to be measured? I believe it does, as a critical starting point in our journey towards a true realisation of our wind energy resource potential. What steps will be taken in this regard? If the Minister does not believe we need to do this, perhaps he will explain why.
Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Mulherin for raising the issue. It is something we will have to deal with much more substantially in the future.
The seasonal and annual mean wind speeds per county have been modelled by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, which has responsibility for the production of the national wind atlas. The mean wind speed figure might provide an indication for a county and a useful comparison of a county to other counties but local factors are always crucial in producing the actual mean wind speed at a site. Such local factors include altitude, aspect, topography, land use and exposure. As a result, the mean annual wind speed at different locations within a county can vary greatly. A particular site's annual mean wind speed can be estimated using the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland's online wind atlas which is available on the SEAI website. This will provide a better indication of the potential mean wind speed in a locality as opposed to the county's mean figure.
At a national level the estimated accessible wind resource on land in 2020 is 12,000 MW using the methodology developed by SEAI. My Department is in discussion with the SEAI regarding plans to update this information and data. The SEAI advises that the accessible resource estimate accounts for the following constraints among others: minimum recommended spacing between turbines; extracted wind speeds below 7.5 m per second; buffer zones on and around habitation, roads, lakes, infrastructure and airports; cost; and social acceptance of wind turbines. Current installed renewable generating plant capacity is at 1,776 MW. Estimates for the amount of installed renewable energy capacity needed to reach our 2020 targets are in the order of 4,630 MW to 5,800 MW. Clearly, the accessible resource far exceeds what will be required for domestic needs.
High fossil fuel prices and geopolitical uncertainty underline the importance of renewable energy for security of supply and sustainable energy production. It is clear that renewable energy has a crucial role to play in providing us with a cleaner and more sustainable source of fuel in the context of climate change. The European Union has also recognised the important role that renewable energy can play. To ensure member states harness the benefits of renewable energy, each country has been given a binding renewable energy target that it must achieve by 2020. Ireland's target of 16% overall of all energy consumed across transport, heating and electricity is a five-fold increase on where we were in 2005 and, while very challenging, is deliverable. Ireland has one of the best wind resources in all of Europe. The bulk of our overall renewable energy target will be met through wind. This is because of the scale of our wind resources. By 2020, some 36% of our consumption in the electricity sector will be from wind generated electricity.
We have made great strides in Ireland in the last decade in increasing our use of renewable energy. In 2003, only 4.3% of our electricity consumption was from renewable sources. At the end of last year, this was in excess of 13%, mainly due to the large increase in wind energy. Wind generated electricity is supported through a feed-in tariff scheme known as REFIT. This means that a minimum price is paid to renewable generators over 15 years to allow them to finance renewable projects. Studies by EirGrid and the SEAI have shown that wind energy reduces the market price of all electricity at certain times, which benefits consumers and offsets any costs of the REFIT scheme. Developing a large amount of renewable energy over the next decade will mean that significant electricity grid upgrades are needed. EirGrid's Grid 25 strategy and implementation plans set out how this can be done. New electricity infrastructure is necessary to transport this renewable electricity. What we will see over the next decade is a transformation of our electricity landscape from one where we are highly dependent on fossil fuels to one where renewable energy makes a significant contribution. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, attended the British-Irish Council meeting with the Taoiseach in London yesterday. The considerable potential for close co-operation across these islands in the development and trading of renewable energy was the main focus of the agenda at that meeting. We will be working with the UK, Northern Ireland and Scotland to deliver on this shared opportunity and challenge.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I hope the reply was of some benefit.