Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 85: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the advice that is available to farmers interested in engaging in micro-generation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22068/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The issue of micro generation of electricity is a matter in the first instance for my colleague the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. The Deputy may be aware that in February 2009 the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources announced measures to encourage the on-site generation of electricity in homes and farms across Ireland. The Micro Generation Programme is being operated by ESB Customer Supply and supported by ESB Networks. Among the measures is a guaranteed price of 19 cent per kilowatt hour of electricity produced as a feed-in tariff applying to the first 4,000 micro-generation installations country-wide over three years. The programme has the potential to provide 4,000 domestic customers, including farms, investing in micro-scale projects with a financial payment for electricity exported back to the grid.

Alongside this programme, under the aegis of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland is administrating a micro-generation programme supporting a number of micro scale projects to resolve outstanding technical issues including: defining the requirements for qualification and certification of technologies; and defining necessary arrangements for qualification, certification and training of installers. Information on the programme is available on the SEAI web site.