Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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192. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which electricity generation in this jurisdiction falls within EU guidelines in respect of carbon reduction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40865/14]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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193. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which various alternative energy sources, including wind, biofuels, hydro or others, have been utilised in the context of meeting national grid requirements now and in the future; the extent to which clean energy sources continue to remain a dominant feature in future energy composition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40866/14]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 192 and 193 together.

While responsibility for climate change policy is primarily a matter for my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, my Department, which has responsibility for energy policy, has a critical role to play in delivering effective interventions required to achieve climate policy objectives.

Ireland is currently heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels to meet our energy needs, and it is acknowledged that fossil fuels will remain part of the energy mix for some time to come. However, progress is being made towards increasing the share of renewables energy in our total energy requirement, and in improving energy efficiency.

Since 1990 the share of high carbon content fuels in electricity generation, such as coal and oil, has been reducing with a corresponding rise in the relatively lower carbon natural gas, and zero carbon renewables. Imported electricity is also considered zero carbon from Ireland’s perspective under the Kyoto Protocol as emissions are counted in the jurisdiction in which they are emitted. The carbon intensity of Ireland’s electricity has dropped by 48% from 896 g CO2/kWh in 1990 to 469 g CO2/kWh in 2013.

The 2009 Renewable Energy Directive set Ireland a target of meeting 16% of total energy demand from renewable sources by 2020. To meet this obligation Ireland is committed to meeting 40% of electricity demand, 12% of heat and 10% of transport from renewables. At the end of 2013, 7.8% of Ireland’s energy came from renewable sources. The total contribution from renewable generation to gross electricity consumption in 2013 was 20.8%.

Historically, hydro was the largest contributor to renewable electricity in Ireland. While the contribution from hydro has declined in percentage terms since 1990, electricity production from wind energy has increased to the point that it accounted for 81% of the renewable electricity generated in 2013. Electricity generated from biomass accounted for 9% of renewable electricity in 2013. Biomass consists of contributions from solid biomass, landfill gas, renewable portion of waste and other biogas. In 2013 wind, hydro and biomass generated electricity accounted for 16.5%, 2.6% and 1.7% respectively of Ireland’s gross electricity consumption.

Looking out to the period beyond 2020, it is clear that there is potential to increase the diversity of our renewable generation portfolio. To this end, the Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (OREDP) identifies the sustainable economic opportunity for Ireland in the period to 2030 of realising the potential of our indigenous offshore wind, wave and tidal energy resources. The Strategic Environmental Assessment carried out for the OREDP found that 4,500 MW of offshore wind and 1,500 MW of wave and tidal generation could be sustainably developed in Irish waters.