Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The overarching objective of the Government's energy policy is to ensure secure and sustainable supplies of competitively priced energy to all consumers. Ireland is currently heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels to meet our energy needs. While it is acknowledged that fossil fuels will remain part of the energy mix for some time to come, progress is being made towards increasing the share of renewable energy in our generation porfolio. The 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive set Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020. In order to meet this target, Ireland is committed to meeting 40% of electricity demand from renewable sources. Figures for 2012 show that 19.6% of electricity demand was met from renewables.

To date wind energy has been the largest driver of growth in renewable electricity, contributing most towards the achievement of the 2020 target. In 2012, 15.3% of electricity demand was met by wind generation. At the end of 2013, the total amount of renewable generation connected to the grid was 2,300 MW. It is estimated that a total of between 3,500 and 4,000 MW of onshore renewable generation capacity will be required to allow Ireland to meet its 40% renewable electricity target. Currently, around 3,000 MW of renewable generation has taken up connection offers under the Gate 3 grid connection programme. Further increasing the share of renewable energy in our generation portfolio will reduce our dependency on expensive imported fossil fuels. Analysis undertaken by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland shows renewable electricity has displaced over €1 billion worth of fossil fuel imports - mainly gas - in the last five years and has reduced CO2 emissions by 12 million tonnes.

EirGrid's most recent Generation Capacity Statement, covering the period 2013 - 2022, deals with both renewable and conventional sources. The median electricity demand scenario is based on the ESRI’s Recovery scenario in their Medium Term Review and Eirgrid generation portfolio assumptions. The results for Ireland show it to be in surplus of over 1,000 MW for most years. This begins to fall off towards the later years as older plant is assumed to come to the end of its useful life. EirGrid has also made a high demand forecast, based on the possibility of a very cold winter (the coldest out of ten years). In this scenario, the surplus is reduced by about 100 MW from the Base Case. However, EirGrid has also stated the need for reinforcment and upgrading of the high voltage transmission grid to ensure that reliable electricity supplies can be maintained to all regions, and allow Ireland to attract and retain investment and create jobs. This work is being carried out by EirGrid through their Grid 25 programme and is also essential if we are to leverage our abundant, indigenous, renewable energy resources and realise the potential they offer for reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels. The renewable energy sector has also been identified by both the IDA and Enterprise Ireland as a key growth area in their clean technology strategies. Therefore, increasing the renewable element of our energy mix will contribute to improving our energy security and our economic development.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 324 and 327 together.

Through its membership of the International Energy Agency, Ireland has regular contact with all of the leading countries who are actively promoting electric vehicles and we receive regular updates on technological progress and policies to promote electric vehicles (EVs). Technology advances will continue in the sector, with the biggest developments expected to take place in the areas of range increases and reduced recharging times for electric vehicles. EVs currently on the market are offering ranges under 200km per charge. This compares to ranges of approximately 170km two to three years ago. It is expected that similar evolutionary increases in range will continue. This will be delivered through improved battery technology and vehicle design. Such increases in range will impact on the longer term requirements for charging capability such as public charging points and I understand that this is being evaluated by the ESB on an ongoing basis including as part of its current electric vehicle trial.

The ESB is also actively monitoring developments in charging technologies and is working closely with motor manufacturers, charging equipment suppliers and international standards bodies to ensure that Ireland is well prepared for such developments. The level of electricity system impact over the next twenty years of electric vehicles will depend on the level of uptake in the vehicles over that period. The EV Roadmap prepared by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is an estimate of the possible long term electrical energy requirements for electric vehicles operating on Ireland’s electricity network and the associated benefits out to 2050 based on a number of different deployment scenarios.

The report, available on the SEAI website, shows that the electrical demand on the system is unlikely to impact the business as usual development requirements for the electricity grid until 2040. Even then, it finds that charging strategies and time of use pricing methods could be employed to avoid the need for additional grid capacity development until beyond 2050. The reason for this is the high energy efficiency of the EV and the drop in electrical power demand at night time. EVs, therefore, could increase the utilisation of this spare night time capacity and, in doing so, make better commercial use of the existing electrical network assets.

The ESB is also evaluating, through the current EV trial, the impact that electric vehicles are likely to have on the overall energy requirements and the resulting network implications in order to plan for and accommodate the expected increase in demand for electric vehicles over this period. In addition, SEAI has a demonstration project on the Aran Islands which is used to provide evidence of the effect of using electric vehicles on energy imports and energy efficiency gains. I understand that the results of this work will be announced shortly.