Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 226: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his key targets for renewable energy in the period to 2030; his targets for electricity based on renewables in the same period; and if the Green Paper on Energy will be published on 1 October 2006. [30338/06]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The Renewables Directive obliges Ireland to develop and implement a programme capable of increasing the amount of electricity from renewable energy sources to 13.2% of total consumption by 2010. The target of 13.2% approximates to 1450 megawatts (MW) of installed generating capacity to be operational to the electricity network by 2010. Currently there are over 860MW of renewable capacity connected to the national grid. This consists of over 590MW of wind powered plant, 236MW of hydro powered plant with the balance (circa 35MWs) made up of different biomass technologies. Support mechanisms put in place by the Government have more than doubled the capacity of renewable energy powered electricity generating plants connected to the electricity network in the last two years. Building on this progress I recently announced an ambitious programme to almost treble the contribution by renewable energy sources from 5.2% of gross electricity consumption in 2004, the last full year for which figures are available, to 15% by 2010. The new target will require growth in the sector to more than double from the capacity currently connected to 1650 megawatts by 2010. The additional new capacity required to achieve this target will be delivered by projects under the previous AER V and AER VI competitions and the new Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff programme. The forthcoming Energy Green Paper will propose an even more ambitious target for increasing the amount of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. The Green Paper is scheduled to be published on 1 October.