Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1113. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress which has been made in encouraging and permitting domestic consumers to easily sell small surplus amounts of renewable electricity generated from home wind, hydro or photoelectric arrays back to the grid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9890/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The participation of consumers in the energy transition is a key theme of the White Paper on Energy Policy. Encouraging citizens and communities to use and develop renewable micro-generation technologies is an important part of this process.

Although I have no statutory function in directing energy suppliers to offer a tariff for surplus renewable electricity fed back to the grid, I am aware that since February 2009 Electric Ireland has offered a feed-in tariff on a commercial basis to domestic micro-generators. I understand that Electric Ireland closed the scheme to new entrants at the end of 2014, but decided to extend the tariff to their existing customers until the end of 2016.  To date, no other electricity supplier has chosen to provide such a tariff, to either domestic or commercial customers, although they have been invited to do so by the Commission for Energy Regulation.

There is no doubt that micro-generation has a potentially important role to play in Ireland’s future energy mix and the White Paper has set out a commitment to explore the scope to provide a market support for micro-generation. This work will form part of the on-going analysis which will underpin the development of a new renewable electricity support scheme, and will be informed by an analysis already undertaken 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.

The first public consultation on the design of a new renewable electricity support scheme was published in 2015, and there will be an additional public consultation on the design and implementation of the new scheme over the coming months. This next consultation phase will give citizens, communities and interested parties a further opportunity to participate in the development of the new scheme.

Details of the next public consultation will be advertised on the Department's website www.dcenr.gov.ie.Before any such scheme could be introduced, it would have to secure Government approval and State aid clearance from the European Commission.