Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 82: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the support contracts he has re-allocated from projects in the AER 5 and AER 6 schemes which have not been progressed in sufficient time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20771/06]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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I can advise the Deputy that there was no reserve list in the AER 5 Scheme. Approximately 140MW of capacity has been reallocated with the agreement of developers from AER 5 and 6 to projects on the AER 6 reserve list. The current target is to increase the installed capacity of renewable energy powered electricity generating plant to 1450 megawatts or 13.2% by 2010.

On 1st May last I launched a new support mechanism (REFIT) to ensure this target is delivered. The opening date for receipt of applications is early June. The new support programme, REFIT, will underpin the construction of at least a further 400 megawatts of new renewable energy powered electricity generating plant.

Once the initial tranche of applications in REFIT is processed my Department will review progress on projects under AER 5 and 6. Any additional capacity withdrawn from AER 5 and 6 will be reallocated to REFIT which will help to ensure that we meet the overall target of 1450 MWs by 2010. We are well on track to deliver, and surpass the Government's present target for 2010, in line with the overall objective to significantly increase the contribution of renewable energy to Ireland's energy mix.