David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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313. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the current supports available to encourage domestic on-farm and commercial microgeneration; his plans for future supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52933/13]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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314. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress that has been made by Sustainable Energy Ireland with their analysis on the costs of varying levels of support for microgeneration technologies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52934/13]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 313 and 314 together.

Electric Ireland has been offering a feed in tariff for domestic microgeneration since February 2009. No other electricity supply company has to date chosen to enter the domestic market and to offer a microgeneration feed-in-tariff on a commercial basis, although the Commission for Energy Regulation invited them to do so. In addition, no company has opted to offer, on a commercial basis, a feed-in-tariff for microgeneration to the commercial and industrial sectors.

Currently, a number of supports are available for commercial micro and small scale generation. All renewable electricity generating technologies can avail of tax relief on capital directly invested in renewable energy assets under Section 486B of the Tax Consolidation Act (TCA) 1997 (as amended). This allows an investor to claim the lesser of 50% of all capital expenditure (excluding lands) or €9.525 million for a single project. Investment by a company or group under this scheme is capped at €12.7 million per annum. Corporate investors in renewable energy projects can claim tax relief on equity investment in capital assets. Other tax based support measures include the Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme which allows individual investors to obtain income tax relief on investments in renewable energy in each tax year. This scheme supersedes the previous Business Expansion Scheme. It provides a minimum tax relief of 30% with an additional 11% accruing at the end of the third and final year if the business has expanded to employ a designated number of people (or if the investment was used for R&D). The scheme has an investment cap of €750,000 and is thus suited to commercial small scale generation projects. An Accelerated Capital Allowance scheme also allows companies to offset the cost of investment in qualifying renewable energy generation technologies against their tax liabilities in Year 1 rather than over a more prolonged period of years, thus aiding their cash flow.

Analysis of the potential of microgeneration, using technologies such as solar and small scale wind and hydro, has been carried out by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). During 2011 and 2012 SEAI carried out microgeneration field trials, a final report on which was submitted to my Department earlier this year. A progress report on Ireland's National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP), as required by the EU Renewable Energy Directive, is currently being completed. The findings of this progress report will provide a suitable context for reviewing the potential for cost effective support of microgeneration, and whether any such support should be tariff, or non-tariff, based.