Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 1419: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans, in conjunction with his counterpart in Northern Ireland, to explore mechanisms to allow a single market for sustainable energy, which includes the necessary subventions to maximise the potential of the wind resource, which is particularly strong on the west coast of Ireland. [36050/07]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Renewable energy generators, North and South, are operating within the Single Wholesale Electricity Market on the island, which was established on 1 November 2007. In relation to support mechanisms for renewable energy, it is the case that the two jurisdictions operate different schemes.

The support mechanism for new renewable energy powered projects in the electricity market in Ireland is the renewable energy feed-in tariff programme (REFIT), which is based on fixed-feed-in tariffs. The subvention in Northern Ireland for similar projects is the Renewable Obligations Certificates programme (ROCs), which is part of a wider UK support programme based on certificate trading. There are no proposals to move towards a single support mechanism.