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

16. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his Department carried out any compliance with the potential costs to the State from failure to meet compliance with the European Union renewable energy supply obligations for the electricity, heat and transport sectors. [19555/16]

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

The Energy White Paper, Ireland's Transition to a Low Carbon Energy Future, published in December 2015, sets out a vision for transforming Ireland's fossil-fuel based energy sector into a clean, low carbon system by 2050. The clear focus of my Department is on implementing the range of actions set out in the White Paper and Programme for Government that are aimed at meeting our energy and climate change targets.  The overarching objective of the Government's energy policy is to ensure secure and sustainable supplies of competitively priced energy to all consumers.  A well balanced fuel mix that provides reliable energy, minimises costs and protects against supply disruptions and price volatility, is essential to Irish consumers as we make the transition to a low carbon system.  

The 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC set Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020 and in order to meet this target, Ireland is committed to meeting 40% of electricity demand from renewable sources, 12% renewables in the heating sector and 10% in transport. The Government has adopted a range of support measures designed to meet our binding target, and although good progress towards our target has been made to date, meeting the 16% target remains challenging. Provisional data from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland indicates we had reached 9.2% of the overall 16% target at the end of 2015.

In the electricity sector, the primary support mechanisms introduced for renewable electricity are the Alternative Energy Requirement schemes and the Renewable Energy Feed-In-Tariff  schemes. These schemes have proved successful at incentivising the development of the renewable electricity generation capacity necessary to meet our 40% renewable electricity target, and provisional figures show that in 2015 some 25.3% of electricity demand was met by renewable sources.

In the heating sector, my Department is working on the introduction of a new Renewable Heat Incentive to support the deployment of renewable energy in the sector. The primary aim of the RHI is to build on the progress already made in heating and to help reach our 12% target by 2020. In 2015 it is estimated that 6.8% of heat was derived from renewable sources.

In the transport sector Ireland aims to meet our renewable target mainly through the increased use of sustainable biofuels, with electric vehicles also making a small contribution.  In 2015, provisional figures indicate 5.7% of our energy needs in the transport sector were met from renewable sources.

The clear focus is on implementing the range of actions set out in the White Paper and Programme for Government that are aimed at meeting our energy and climate change targets. While my Department has not carried out any studies in regard to the potential costs of not meeting our overall renewable energy targets, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), has estimated that the cost to Ireland may be in the range of €100 million to €150 million for each percentage point Ireland falls short of the overall 16% renewable energy target.