Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome this debate on energy. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has eloquently outlined why nuclear energy is not appropriate to Ireland, even if one agrees with the technology as a runner. Ireland is not a suitable country for nuclear energy.

I support our ambition of reaching 80% renewable energy by 2030. It makes sense for Ireland. We have a huge resource, particularly in offshore wind and green hydrogen, and that is the route we should take. Today, I will outline some of my concerns about the intricacies of how we get to the 80% target by 2030, and things that have been highlighted to me through meeting with stakeholders and communities and also through the very good collective work the climate action committee has been doing on energy. I believe that if we can manage to achieve 80% renewable energy, we can have energy independence and energy security as well as tackle climate change.

The first issue of concern is the cost of renewables. We have to bring down the cost of renewables if we are to have a green hydrogen strategy that can compete on the international stage. Germany is currently looking for partners to enter with it into a green hydrogen strategy. It is looking at north Africa because it is producing solar power and producing it cheaper. Ireland has one of the highest costs for renewable energy in the EU so we have to be able to examine why that is the case. I have talked to stakeholders and they point to a number of issues that could be addressed, such as the delays in the planning system. It is not bypassing people engaging in the planning process because that is part of democracy but having set timelines, properly resourcing An Bord Pleanála and properly resourcing the environmental NGOs to make submissions on planning applications. They also point to grid connection costs and the fact that they pay higher commercial rates than fossil fuel power plants.

One of the calls from the stakeholders is eminently sensible.It is something Sinn Féin has repeatedly called for, which is a cross-departmental stakeholder forum that would identify the policy changes needed to reduce the cost of renewables. The renewable electricity support scheme, RESS, 2 results were supposed to be released earlier this week. I understand they are going to come out tomorrow. They will show that the cost of renewables has not decreased. In fact, it has increased. In March I asked Mr. Mark Foley of Eirgrid about this. I asked whether there was concern that RESS 2 would see an increase in renewable energy costs. He told me he has no doubt the market will ultimately deliver significant reductions in the cost of renewable energy. We will not see this. It is very concerning. I echo the calls to establish the cross-departmental stakeholder forum without delay to make sure we have the policy changes and that we have a green hydrogen strategy that will be able to compete on the international stage.

The next matter I will speak about is demand reduction. The Government's amendment does not make reference to data centres despite the fact they accounted for 73% of the increase in the consumption of electricity in the period from 2015 to 2020. We have to address this elephant in the room. We are an outlier in Europe and the world when it comes to the number of data centres we have. There are also other areas in demand reduction. The demand reduction strategy is due to lapse. It was designed in 2011. So far, the Department and the Minister have had no meetings with stakeholders on the new demand reduction strategy. This is very concerning because the climate action plan states demand flexibility will make up 30% of the reductions by 2030.

Another area of concern is the democratising of the energy system and smart meters. We are told they will play a critical part in reducing demand. The smart meters we got in Ireland seem to be just an update of previous meters. They are not doing what smart meters should be doing. We do not have dynamic tariffs. We do not have real-time information for households. Households are unable to actively participate in demand reduction and the decarbonisation of the grid.

It is the same with rooftop solar planning. Private Members' time has been used to discuss the guidelines and exemptions from planning permission for rooftop solar. We were told we would get interim guidelines and the concern was about glaring glint at airports. However, Dublin Airport has put in for its own solar farm, Schiphol Airport has a solar farm and, even more interestingly, Belfast City Airport has a solar farm. Not only does it have a solar farm beside the airport but because it is allowed to have direct lines, which we are not allowed to have because of the Electricity Regulation Act, Belfast City Airport gets 25% of its electricity from its own solar farm. I could go on discussing such issues.

I absolutely support the 80% target. I absolutely support the direction we are taking on renewables. We can have secure energy through renewables. However, there are concerns about how we will reach the target. This is where I would like the focus. I echo the call to make sure microgeneration addresses inequality. If the PSO levy will be used to fund people generating their own electricity, those who will not be able to participate should not be footing the bill. We need a redesign of the PSO levy. We also need the grid's software to be upgraded so that it recognises multi-hour and multi-day energy storage. In Britain, energy storage batteries are displacing gas-fired power generators whereas the grid in Ireland does not recognise them. We are introducing temporary gas-fired power generators to meet our demand.

These are my concerns. I support the direction we are going with renewables and I support the targets but I cannot support the amendment or the motion.