James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the projected targets for solar energy in relation to our energy needs and requirements by 2020, his efforts to meet these targets, what he has done to encourage the development of the solar energy industry, and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21618/16]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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The question relates to our investment in solar energy. In fairness to the Department, progress has been made towards our renewable targets for 2020 but I am not sure where solar fits into the mix at present. I would like some information and detail in that regard.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The programme for Government contains a commitment to facilitate the development of solar energy projects. This commitment builds on the energy White Paper published in December 2015 and recognises that solar photo voltaic also has the potential to provide a community dividend thereby enhancing citizen participation in Ireland's energy future. It is widely recognised that solar photo voltaic technology has become more cost competitive for electricity generation over the past few years not only compared with other renewables but also compared with conventional forms of generation. With the significant changes in the cost of the technology, the deployment of solar photo voltaic in Ireland has only recently become a potential cost-effective option to increase energy security, contribute to our renewable energy targets and support economic growth and jobs. It is also recognised, however, that while the cost competitiveness of solar photo voltaic has improved, it would still require a subsidy in order to be developed on a commercial basis. In depth economic analysis is under way to inform the costing of a new renewable electricity support scheme. While no decision has been taken on the precise renewable technologies to be supported, the cost and technical viability of a range of renewable technologies is being assessed, including solar photo voltaic.

Designing and implementing a new scheme is a complex task and it is expected that the broad details of the new scheme will be available early next year. Before these details are announced, the Department will run a second public consultation, which will give all interested parties an opportunity to have an input into the design of the new scheme.  Ultimately, the introduction of any new scheme will be subject to Government approval and state aid clearance by the European Commission. While there are no specific targets in relation to any individual renewable energy technology, any renewable energy technology that is built and connected before 2020 can contribute towards Ireland's 2020 renewable energy target. This may include solar photo voltaic.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I am interested in the citizens' dividend the Minister mentioned. I have an interest in the area of microgeneration where citizens erect their own solar photo voltaic generators to power their own homes and business, which is what I think the Minister was referring to. There is also a concept of offset whereby they can contribute back to the grid where they produce excess energy. This has been very successfully achieved in Germany and Portugal in recent months. They actually achieved negative pricing at one stage. The utility companies might not be too happy about that but it works very much for the consumer. I was informed by a constituent recently that the microgeneration scheme run by the ESB had been withdrawn. This individual had a number of panels on his roof and was benefitting from participation in this very beneficial scheme. It goes back to citizens and their obligations and opportunities to benefit from this technology. I ask the Minister to look at that and, in particular, the withdrawal of the service by the ESB with a view to bringing it back on stream.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I am actively looking at that at the moment. I am concerned that Electric Ireland has withdrawn the scheme for new customers. I am surprised the other operators never offered it. Electric Ireland was the only company that offered access to the grid for microgeneration. Deputy Eamon Ryan noted during the debate on the Energy Bill 2016 that there are issues in regard to microgeneration having regard to stability on the grid where significant numbers of projects are involved. We do not have a large number of microgeneration projects currently. No more than the discussion we had at the select committee earlier on today, this is something we are looking at actively and it is something we are going to look at next Wednesday when we discuss the Energy Bill again. Access to the grid is only one aspect of this. Another aspect is the stability of the grid when one has a large number of generators on it. There is also the cost aspect and the requirement for smart metering of the income to be generated. There are a number of complexities which we are actively looking at.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate that this is a complex area with many facets. It is essential to incorporate solar as part of our mixed basket. I was interested in a recent SEAI report which identified a number of measures to be adopted, including electric vehicles, insulation, renewable heat sources and the usual targets. It focused on wind at the expense of the inclusion of solar in the report. We know wind has its difficulties, which we discussed before. Solar is late to market but perhaps it can learn lessons from the experience with other renewable sources which may be less attractive.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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During the debate on the Energy Bill 2016, a number of the Deputy's colleagues mentioned concerns at community level in regard to solar. Deputy Thomas Byrne mentioned it and I asked him to come back to me in regard to these issues because we need to ensure that if guidelines need to be put in place, they are put in place at the start and are practical, possible to implement, reasonable and take into account the need for community engagement. I do not mean bringing the community together to tell it what is going on. It is about bringing the community together to talk about what the options are, how they can be involved and the give and take in regard to these projects. It should not be a matter of one-way traffic. That is important. The difficulty with solar photo voltaic up to now has been the KPMG study which showed that the subsidy it required was roughly €150 per megawatt. Large-scale wind is currently subsidised at approximately €70 per megawatt while I am told at European level that offshore wind is subsidised at approximately €100 per megawatt. The costs are the problem. I had a meeting recently with a Chinese manufacturer who said that the costs are being driven down, so it may be that we can meet somewhere in the middle.