Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 390: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his Department's policy in relation to wind turbines, in particular in the context of correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33260/06]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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I am committed to the development and deployment of domestic scale renewable electricity and heat technologies. There are however, a number of technical and administrative issues to be resolved in relation to the deployment of wind turbines in the domestic sector. My Department is working with the relevant agencies, including Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), ESB Networks and the Electro-Technical Council of Ireland in this regard.

Sustainable Energy Ireland provides grant assistance, under its Renewable Energy Research, Development and Demonstration programme, to suppliers for demonstrating small wind turbines in domestic and small business applications. The specification, installation and performance of the wind turbines supplied are being closely monitored under this programme and the results will inform any future initiatives in this area.

I welcome the recent launch by CER of a public consultation on micro generation, which will also critically inform future directions.

We need to ensure that the appropriate administrative, technical and safety standards and practices are in place before putting in place programmes for the widespread deployment of micro generation technologies. I am confident that appropriate solutions suited to the context of the Irish electricity grid and for non-grid connected technologies will be found so that we can further develop this emerging sector.