Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 83: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on the need for an additional pumped storage facility; his further views on the Spirit of Ireland proposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43368/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The "All Island Grid Study" published early last year, examined the ability of the electricity systems on an All-Island basis to absorb power from renewable energy powered projects.

Without being prescriptive, the study's findings showed that penetration of up to 42% renewable electricity is technically feasible without any major increase in pumped storage. There are however, a number of different perspectives on the potential role for pumped storage in an electricity system with very significant levels of renewable energy.

In order to further explore the various perspectives and current analysis, Sustainable Energy Ireland in conjunction with UCD hosted a seminar on energy storage on 4 November. The presentations made at the seminar are available on the Sustainable Energy Ireland Website.

It is also the case that several private parties, including the Spirit of Ireland group specifically referred to by the Deputy, are developing renewable energy proposals which are predicated on pumped storage projects.

The promoters of the Spirit of Ireland project presented their proposal last May, during a series of meetings with my Department, with other Departments as well as with the ESB, EirGrid and the Commission for Energy Regulation. I also met the Spirit of Ireland group myself.

These early initial meetings gave us a good preliminary insight into this highly ambitious and complex proposal. The promoters themselves acknowledged at that stage that there were very many elements to the project which needed detailed evaluation and analysis. They signalled that they would revert in the autumn to me and my Department with the results of this work. My Department will be meeting the promoters in the near future for further discussions on their proposals.