Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 472: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress made since December 2008 in reaching the target of 40% energy from renewable resources by 2020 announced in the Building Ireland's Smart Economy: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal report; the percentage of energy here which comes from renewable resources; the initiatives proposed to increase this in the short medium term; and the projected cost of such initiatives. [43153/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The Government has set a target of 40% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Electricity accounts for approximately one-third of energy consumption in Ireland, with another third of energy consumption in the transport sector and a further third in the heat sector. The 40% target for renewable generation is consistent with the EU target addressed to Ireland under Directive 2009/28/EC to increase the contribution from renewable sources to 16% of all energy consumed (to include electricity, transport and heating) by 2020. Renewable generation contribution made up 11.9% of all electricity consumed in 2008 compared to just 4.4% in 2003. Ireland has an EU target of 13.2% for renewable electricity to be achieved by 2010, which will be met and probably exceeded.The promotion of the sustainable generation and use of energy is being supported in a variety of ways in the electricity, transport and heat sectors, as well as through the promotion of energy efficiency across the economy.

Renewable electricity generation is currently supported through the Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (REFIT) programme which has been in operation since 2006. There are currently 1,400 megawatts of renewable generation plants connected to the electricity grid and wind powered technology is the dominant technology. More than 100 individual wind farms have been connected with a combined capacity of around 1100 MWs. 240 MWs of hydropower are connected. The balance represents biomass plants mainly landfill gas. There is approximately a further 1400MWs of capacity with signed grid connection offers, which are due to be built and connected to the grid typically over the next two to 3 year period. Furthermore, under the Gate 3 process being run by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), a further 4000MW of additional renewable electricity capacity is due to receive connection offers over the next 18 months.

The current REFIT scheme supports wind, small hydro and biomass generation. REFIT is being expanded to cover offshore wind, ocean energy and anaerobic digestion/CHP. The estimated cost of REFIT when State Aid approval was obtained from the European Commission in 2007 was €150 million over a period of 15 years. The Government has a target of 500MW from Ocean Energy, by 2020. Ireland's Ocean Energy Strategy is being overseen and implemented by the Ocean Energy Development Unit in Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) working in partnership with all key players. Ocean energy technologies are still in the research and development phase globally. Work towards the commercialisation of ocean energy technology continues in Ireland and abroad.The Government was set a target for Renewable Heating of 12% by 2020.

There are a number of schemes in place to support the target including the Greener Homes Scheme (which supports domestic renewable heating), the Renewable Heat Deployment Programme, which is aimed at institutional, industrial and retail users of heat, and the Combined Heat and Power Programme (CHP). The cost of the Reheat and CHP programmes in 2009 is estimated at €5.2m while the cost of Greener Homes is estimated at €15.3m. Biofuels offer one potential means to counter high emissions levels in the sector. The Government is committed to the sustainable development of an Irish biofuels market in line with overall EU biofuel policy developments. The National Biofuel Obligation, from next year, will provide the market with long term stability and will incorporate the EU Commission's Guidelines on Sustainability Criteria, as soon as these are published. As a result of the Biofuels Mineral Oil Tax Relief Schemes, introduced in 2005 and 2006 (the schemes are valued at over €200 million), the market penetration rate for biofuels as a percentage of road transport fuels has increased from zero to just under 2% in 2008.

The Government has committed to achieving 20% energy savings across the economy by 2020. As part of this energy efficiency drive, the Government has also committed to achieving a 33% energy saving across the Public Sector by 2020. I launched the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) in May 2009. The Action Plan sets out 90 actions that the Government are either already taking or will take in the period to 2020 to achieve the energy efficiency targets whilst reducing our CO2 emissions by approximately 5.7 million tonnes. The savings identified in the Action Plan represent approximately €1.6 billion in avoided energy costs for the economy in 2020.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 473: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress made since December 2008 in reaching the target of 10% of the road transport fleet here being electrically powered by 2020 as announced in the Building Ireland's Smart Economy: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal report; the initiatives which are planned to achieve this target; and the projected cost of such initiatives. [43154/09

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 479: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding the roll-out of the national electric car programme; if he has been liaising with the ESB on the development of the necessary infrastructure including charging points for the nationwide electric car scheme; when the first charge points will be operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39556/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 473 and 479 together.

The Government has announced plans for the large scale deployment of electric vehicles in Ireland. The target of 10% of all vehicles to be powered by electricity by 2020, will equate to around 225,000 cars on Irish roads. An Inter-Departmental/Inter-Agency Taskforce on electric vehicles is chaired by my Department and comprises the Departments of Transport, Finance, the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), ESB, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) is also joining the Task Force in light of its statutory responsibilities for the regulated networks. ESB Networks has a pivotal role to play in terms of delivering the necessary infrastructure and charging points roll-out of electric vehicles. Both my Department and I are liaising closely with ESB Networks on progressing the infrastructure programme. ESB is also playing a lead role in the work of European energy utilities and other players to ensure standardisation across Europe.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 474: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if a framework has been put in place since December 2008 to support the development of auto-generation and micro-generation projects as announced in the Building Ireland's Smart Economy: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal report; and if the Commission for Energy Regulation has carried out the review of energy prices and tariff methodologies outlined in the report. [43155/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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In February 2009 I launched the Micro Generation programme, which is being operated by ESB Customer Supply and supported by ESB Networks. The programme will provide up to 4,000 domestic customers investing in micro-scale projects with a financial payment for electricity exported back to the grid. The ESB advise that 92 customers had signed up for the scheme by September 2009. The microgeneration programme also provides for two-way metering, to be installed without additional charge to the customer. The electricity producer is paid a price of 19 cent per kilowatt-hour, which will help to offset the start up costs. The micro technologies in question include wind, solar and hydro as well as combined heat and power. It is the case that micro-scale electricity production will benefit the participating customers upfront by offsetting their purchase of electricity from their electricity suppliers. I have asked my Department to develop the microgeneration framework further to enhance and facilitate take-up.

Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) has also launched a Micro-generation Pilot Programme, involving research and field trials, including support for between 50 and 60 installations on a pilot basis, of micro-scale projects. The field trials will address a range of issues including grid connection and technical standards to ensure the power security, safety and quality of installations. Full details of the field trials, the criteria for applications, the involvement of the different technologies and customer groups and the exact level of support are available on of the SEI website (http://www.sei.ie/Grants/Microgenpilot). 40 applications have been approved to date.