Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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552. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress in creating a new support scheme for renewable energy from a micro-generation perspective; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4719/16]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The first public consultation on the design of a new renewable electricity support scheme was published in July 2015. The initial phase of this consultation process, which closed on 18 September 2015, was designed to review the technology options that may be supported by any new scheme. There will be additional public consultation phases in 2016, which will explore the potential design and implementation options for the structure of the support scheme. These consultation phases will give interested parties further opportunities to participate in the development of the support scheme. Details will be advertised on the Department’s website . It is expected that the new scheme will be announced towards the end of this year subject to Government approval and State aid clearance from the European Commission.

In so far as microgeneration is concerned, the Energy White Paper 'Ireland's Transition to a Low Carbon Energy Future 2015-2030', published on 16 December 2015, sets out a high-level framework for Ireland's energy transition to a low carbon economy and society and identifies a range of measures and actions to support this aim. One key action is to explore the scope to provide market support for microgeneration.  This will be informed by an analysis which has been completed by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) of the potential of technologies in the field of small-scale wind, solar, micro-CHP and small-scale hydro.