Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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150. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the reasoning behind the requirements for biomass combined heat and power facilities to achieve an efficiency threshold, nearly twice that of our European counterparts (details supplied); his views that this is a major hurdle in realising the development of these projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10712/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, 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.

The deployment of biomass for renewable electricity support is primarily supported through the REFIT 3 scheme. The scheme includes a higher rate for the use of biomass in a combined heat and power facility (CHP) which is a generator that achieves a higher level of efficiency by recovering and utilising heat that would normally be wasted in a conventional generation process. It is important to note that the biomass high efficiency CHP category has seen the highest level of applications for support in REFIT 3.

Provision of the higher support rate is dependent on certification as a high efficiency CHP plant by the CER and achievement of an overall efficiency based on the electricity generated and the heat used from the plant, calculated by the CER. The rates are supported by the public service obligation which is paid by all electricity consumers in Ireland. The overall efficiency threshold is therefore important in minimising costs that are passed onto consumers and also ensuring that the higher support rate is only payable to generators that achieve a high level of performance.

Comparison against EU counterparts requires assessment of a broader range of factors than that suggested in the Question including the range of available supports, the market environment and characteristics of the deployment in each Member State. It is worth noting that the Council of European Energy Regulators published a report in January noting that Ireland has been one of the most cost effective Member States in terms of the average cost per unit of electricity supported. Measures such as the overall efficiency threshold enable us to deploy our renewable energy ambitions while minimising costs to consumers.