Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 233: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which alternative energy incentivisation exists and is set to continue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17550/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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As the Deputy will be aware, there are a range of supports available for renewable energy production. The Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (REFIT) scheme, which is administered by my Department, supports a number of different types of renewable electricity projects, including commercial wind farm projects through provision of a floor price. REFIT is a fixed feed in tariff system, designed to provide developers with certainty as to the price they will receive for the electricity generated. As such, it functions by guaranteeing a certain price to generators per unit of energy generated, and steps in to make up the difference between the REFIT price and the market price, in circumstances where this arises. REFIT is paid for from the Public Service Obligation. REFIT categories exist also for Biomass, and for Biomass/Anaerobic Digestion Combined Heat and Power plants.

My Department, through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) also runs a number of capital grant aid programmes for Combined Heat and Power installations, and for renewable heating installations. SEAI's Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Programme assists the deployment of small-scale fossil-fired and biomass CHP systems in the industrial, commercial, service and public sectors. The Biomass CHP Programme provides grant aid for Biomass and Anaerobic Digestion CHP. Anaerobic Digestion, in particular, offers opportunities for farmers to use animal waste to generate electricity, while also reducing the environmental impact of that waste when spread on the land.

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is a highly efficient way of generating on-site heat and electricity simultaneously. It can offer significantly reduced energy bills for the end user and is a particularly efficient form of energy generation as it minimises any transmission losses involved in getting power to the site. Traditionally, CHP plants were only used in large industrial units with a high on-site heat load. Increasingly the technology is developing higher efficiency, smaller scale units that are capable of servicing smaller buildings and even down to individual residential scale units.

Under the Deployment Programme, SEAI has supported 9 hospitals with a total capacity of 1.7 MWe and 5 educational establishments with a total capacity of 1.36 MWe at a cost of over €650,000. The Renewable Heat Deployment Programme (ReHeat), which incentivises the installation of biomass boilers, is also open to institutional users of heat, and has already supported the construction of a number of projects where the heat load was not sufficient to justify the expense of a CHP plant. The Greener Homes Scheme, which supports installation of renewable heating technology in homes, is now in its third phase. To date, over 37,000 applications have been received for grant aid under the Scheme, with over €61m paid to over 24,000 applicants.

In the transport sector a number of other schemes are in place or in process. The production of biofuel in Ireland has been incentivised to date, under the Mineral Oil Tax Relief Schemes, which have resulted in 18 projects being awarded excise relief on specified volumes of biofuel they produce. This scheme, which will come to a close at end 2010, is being replaced by the Biofuel Obligation Scheme, which will commence in July 2010. The availability of funding for capital programmes is subject to the annual budgetary process on a year by year basis.