Written answers

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Tax Reliefs Availability

Photo of Michael ColreavyMichael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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686. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans regarding rebates for persons or businesses selling electricity back to the grid using photovoltaic solar panels. [12848/15]

Photo of Alex WhiteAlex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The Renewable Electricity Feed-in Tariff (REFIT) schemes are the principal means of supporting renewable electricity generators for renewable energy exported to the grid. The schemes operate by guaranteeing a minimum price for renewable energy generation over a 15 year period. The technologies supported include onshore wind energy, hydroelectricity, landfill gas, waste-to-energy and biomass technologies, including anaerobic digestion. Solar PV is not one of the qualifying technologies for this scheme. Further information is available on my Department's website,

There are tax relief based incentives available such as the Employment and Investment Incentive (EII) Scheme which allows individual investors to obtain income tax relief on investments in renewable energy in each tax year. This scheme supercedes 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 may thus be suited to small industrial renewable energy projects. A number of financial services companies offer EII Funds or portfolios to investors.

Additionally, the Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) scheme was introduced in 2008 and extended in Budget 2015 for a further three years. The scheme 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, thus aiding their cash flow.

Separately, my Department is currently considering the responses to the public consultation on the Green Paper on Energy. The Green Paper, inter alia, sought feedback on the role that alternative technologies, such as solar, could play in delivering our renewable energy ambitions. Views received will be taken into consideration in the preparation of the White Paper on Energy which will be published in September.

Given the emerging policy context and the requirements of the EU internal market for electricity, my Department will be considering the appropriateness of a new support scheme for renewable electricity, from 2016 onwards. A key component of this will be consideration of the available technologies, their cost effectiveness and the level of support required. The scheme would be subject to State Aid clearance and the initial public consultation on a new scheme will commence in the coming weeks.

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