Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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75. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he expects the target for renewable energy for electricity of 40% to be met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21825/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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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. The 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive set Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020. In order to meet this target, Ireland is committed to meeting 40% of electricity demand from renewable sources. Good progress is being made towards increasing the share of renewable energy in our generation portfolio.

Policies and schemes are in place to incentivise the use of renewable energy. The REFIT schemes underpin the development of a range of renewable electricity technologies. In addition, my Department is working on the development of a new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme designed to assist in meeting our renewable electricity target.

To date, wind energy has been the largest driver of growth in renewable electricity. At end January 2017, the total amount of renewable generation connected to the grid was 3,120 MW of which 2,796 MW was wind. A further 3,570 MW of renewable generation is contracted for connection to the grid. Provisional figures provided by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland indicate that the total contribution from renewable generation to gross electricity consumption last year was 26.5%. In addition, solar and biomass have the potential to also contribute to our renewable electricity target.  Eirgrid estimates that a total of between 3,900 and 4,300 MW of onshore renewable generation capacity will be required to allow Ireland to achieve 40% renewable electricity by 2020.

Looking to the European Union's emerging climate and energy targets for 2030, it is likely that all Member States will be required to expand their renewable electricity generation portfolios beyond their 2020 capacities. This will be subject to negotiation in the context of the Commission's Clean Energy Package proposals and Ireland's share of any EU binding renewable target to be agreed would have to be fair, affordable and deliverable.