Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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59. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the status of research he has carried out as part of a cost-benefit analysis on wind farms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44805/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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My Department has been working with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, EirGrid and the Commission for Energy Regulation, to assess the costs and value of choosing the path towards 40% renewable electricity generation in 2020. Quantifying the costs and benefits of reaching our renewable energy obligations is a complex task involving the examination of many interrelated variables. This work and the related findings will form the basis of a report that will be published shortly.

Our transition to a greater use of renewable energy in the energy mix has been analysed in a number of previous studies. The All-Island Grid Study, published in 2008, assessed the technical feasibility and the relative costs and benefits associated with various scenarios for increased shares of electricity sourced from renewable energy in the all island power system. The scenarios were informed by the resource available, technological readiness of the various generation technologies and cost required per generated unit. The mapping for the analysis also assessed the deployment potential based on where the resource was and an overview of environmentally designated areas. This study informed the decision to move towards achieving 40% renewable electricity generation in Ireland by 2020. It concluded that, based on assumptions set out in the report, wind energy represented a cost effective source for electricity generation.

The abundant wind resource in Ireland means that each unit of installed wind generation capacity generates more units of electricity when compared with other countries and hence needs a lower rate per generated unit of electricity in order to recover the overall costs of the project. The existing feed-in tariff, REFIT, which is funded from the Public Service Obligation levy on consumer bills, is a very cost effective support for onshore wind development, as indicated by a report published by the Council of European Energy Regulators earlier this year.

This position has been underpinned by other published reports and analyses which have examined the effect of renewables on electricity prices.

Furthermore, renewable electricity generation in Ireland in 2014 is estimated by the SEAI to have avoided €250 million worth of fossil fuels imports.