Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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281. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will outline any and all State subsidies available to private companies developing wind energies in particular and renewable energies in general. [29139/13]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The primary support mechanisms for renewable electricity are the REFIT (Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff) schemes, which are designed to provide certainty to renewable electricity generators by providing them with a minimum floor price for each unit of electricity exported to the grid over a 15 year period. Using a fixed feed in tariff mechanism, the certainty afforded by a guaranteed minimum price allows developers to access finance for renewable developments. The REFIT schemes are funded by the Public Service Obligation (PSO) which is paid for by all electricity consumers. The REFIT schemes have been designed to incentivise the development of renewable electricity generation in order to ensure Ireland meets the legally binding target of 40% of electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020.

In the second round of REFIT - REFIT 2 - a total of 4,000 MW can be supported. The scheme is open to renewable generation constructed between the start of 2010 and the end of 2017. The current reference prices per megawatt hour for REFIT 2 is €69.23 for installations above 5 MW (large wind), €71.66 for installations equal to, or below, 5MW (small wind), €87.46 for hydroelectric projects and €85.03 for biomass/landfill gas projects.

The REFIT 3 scheme aims to incentivise the addition of 310MW of renewable electricity biomass capacity to the Irish grid, with a total of 200MW of this being new capacity in the anaerobic digestion and solid biomass areas. Of this, 150MW will be high efficiency combined heat and power (CHP), using both anaerobic digestion and the thermochemical conversion of solid Biomass. REFIT 3 also provide supports for up to 160MW from the co-firing of biomass with peat at Edenderry power station and potentially in future, subject to technical acceptance, at Lanesborough and Shannonbridge power stations.

The 2013 REFIT 3 reference prices per kilowatt hour (kWH) are as follows:

AD CHP less than or equal to 500 kW - 15.6c/kWh

AD CHP >500 kW - 13.5c/kWh

AD (non CHP less than or equal to 500 kW - 11.4c/kWh

AD (non CHP) >500kW - 10.4c/kWh

Biomass CHP less than or equal to 1500kW - 14.6c/kWh

Biomass CHP >1500kW (1.5MW) - 12.5c/kWh

Biomass Combustion (including co firing in existing plant):

For using energy crops - 9.9c/kWh

For all other biomass - 8.8c/kWh

In terms of reliefs, Section 62 of the Finance Act 1998 as amended provides for a scheme of tax relief for corporate investments in certain renewable energy projects. It was inserted as Section 486B of the Tax Consolidation Act 1997, with effect from 18 March 1999. Since then, the scheme has been periodically extended to 31 December 2014. The relief applies to corporate equity investments in certain renewable energy generation projects, and is given in the form of a deduction from a company's profits for its direct investment in new ordinary shares in a qualifying renewable energy company. To qualify for this relief, the energy project must be in the solar, wind, hydro or biomass technology categories, and must be approved by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. The relief is capped at the lesser of 50% of all capital expenditure (excluding lands) net of grants, or €9.525 million for a single project. Investment by a company or group is capped at €12.7 million per annum, and unless the shares are held for at least 5 years by the corporate investor, the relief shall be withdrawn.

Financial tax incentives, introduced in 2008, are also available for a wide range of energy efficient equipment through the Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) scheme. The scheme enables companies to claim 100% of the capital cost of certain energy efficient plant and machinery against corporation tax in the year of purchase. The range of technologies covered by the ACA scheme has been expanded to cover electricity provision technologies.