Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Seanad Éireann" and substitute the following:

"commends the Government for its comprehensive actions to ensure a sustainable energy future for Ireland, delivering a reliable supply, efficient use of energy, competitive prices and diverse fully sustainable energy sources through:

• ensuring that electricity supply consistently meets demand;

• overseeing ongoing investment in electricity and gas networks, including interconnection;

• supporting the accelerated development of a range of renewable energy technologies to meet the national target of 40% renewable energy in electricity in 2020, including wind and ocean;

• ensuring the security and reliability of gas supplies; radically enhancing energy efficiency and conservation; and

• maintaining a stable and sustainable environment for hydrocarbon exploration and production."

I commend the Government's amendment to the motion and I welcome the motion. Senators Quinn and O'Toole have done an excellent job by introducing this motion to the House. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am very enthused about the possibilities for new energy sources in this country. There is a company called Natural Energy Ireland which has substantial money behind it. It has a plan and a design to provide natural energy in this country that we could export. It is very important for the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to know about this company. I intend to have an all-party meeting with the company in the audio-visual room in the near future because it is a most interesting company. It seeks to build three major centres along the west coast. As Senator O'Toole pointed out, that is where the big energy supply is. The company has estimated that our wealth in energy is equivalent to Saudi Arabia. We could be exporters of energy to the tune of €68 billion. These people have done the figures. Obviously, they would like to become involved in supplying energy to this country and this can be done in different ways.

As Senators will know, our big problem will be planning and there are all sorts of objections in planning issues. We need to devise a planning system for our energy needs. Somebody, somewhere, will object, whether in counties Kerry, Cork, Limerick or in the west. It happened in Dublin when people from County Kerry objected to the M50. How stupid is that? We must amend the planning situation. Local authorities should be able to provide a permit system whereby planning could be granted for energy projects. This is in the interests of the nation. It is as simple as that. We do not want our energy projects held up for five or ten years. We see what is going on at present in the west. We cannot tolerate this. It is no longer acceptable because the situation is too serious. We are 98% dependent on outside energy and we cannot continue like that.

We all know wind energy is in very good supply along the west coast but the wind does not blow all the time. This company has devised a seaside development system of storing that energy in which an area would be flooded by canals. When the wind blows this would work according to the Turlough Hill project design in which the wind pushes the water up to a higher table, thereby storing the energy. When the time is right the energy can be released back into the grid.

The people involved believe three major projects would supply the entire country with energy. This figure refers to gigawatts, not megawatts. It is a gigantic development. I shall invite the persons concerned to the House to talk to all parties because we should all put our heads together on this. It is a very important project and if we do not take it on board we will not get out of our current situation. We are the dearest country in Europe for energy. That makes us the dearest country for the setting up of industry because we must charge too much for the present supply.

It is important to provide some figures concerning this project. Our present system costs us €30 billion to bring a ten-year supply into this country. We could build three projects of this kind, paying €2.5 billion for the water development and €1.1 million for each generator. That will give some idea of the cost. One such development could supply 7,000 MW which shows what a project of this nature could do for the country in terms of selling back into the grid. We must design our system now. There is discussion of the new grid being built in Tarbert which is very welcome but it must be designed to fit into a system such as this.

I thank Senator Quinn for tabling this motion. However, with power of this kind we do not need nuclear power. We could provide supply with the natural energy we have. We must consider that this country is known all over the world as the green country, and that is how our agricultural exports are known. It would be a shame not to keep using as much natural energy as we have in this country. Solar energy is another technology. It is in its infancy now but will be a considerable power in the next two to three years. There are advances already whereby one can run central heating from solar energy.

I am excited by the new approach in this country towards energy and I welcome the fact that Senator Quinn mentioned nuclear power. If we did not have a better system we would have to consider that option. However, we have a system in place and people are working on developing others. I intend to invite such people to the House to talk to Senators about their work. It would be very interesting and I hope this will happen in the coming weeks.