Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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1456. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to allow excess solar energy generated through solar PV panels to be sold back to the grid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38108/17]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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1460. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the actions and supports he plans to take to support the development of residential solar power; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38201/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1456 and 1460 together.

The 2016 Programme for Government and 2015 Energy White Paper recognise that Solar Photovoltaic (Solar PV) has the potential to provide a community dividend, thereby enhancing citizen participation in Ireland's energy future and Solar PV has the potential to contribute to meeting Ireland’s renewable energy and climate change objectives.

However, at present, Solar PV, for electricity generated and export to grid, is not supported under any of the existing renewable electricity support schemes operating in Ireland.  This is largely down to the historic higher costs associated with Solar PV technologies in comparison to other renewable electricity generators.

My Department is currently developing a new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) which will be designed to assist Ireland in meeting its renewable energy contribution to EU-wide targets out to 2030. The design of the new scheme has included an extensive independent economic appraisal. This appraisal compared the cost of supporting Solar PV (both rooftop and ground mounted) and a range of other commercial renewable technologies, at various scales, to ensure that the new scheme delivers value for money for energy users whilst also delivering on the energy pillars of sustainability and security of supply. The assessment also included analysis of the optimum financial support mechanisms for renewable technologies, in line with the 2014 EU State Aid Guidelines.

A public consultation on the design principles of the proposed new RESS was launched on 4 September and submissions are invited from the public. All submissions will be considered and following on from this final public consultation, a design proposal will be brought to Government for approval. Full details of the consultation are available on my Department’s website at: .

Micro generation of renewable electricity was appraised as part of the RESS economic assessment, including the use of solar PV panels on domestic rooftops. The analysis identified a number of challenges that may need to be addressed before the introduction of a tariff for exported electricity from solar PV rooftop installations. These include among others, a reform of network charges, an assessment of the distributional impact of such a policy decision on the PSO (cost burden sharing), and development of a fair tariff for exported electricity taking the benefits of self-consumption into account. This approach is in line with experience from other EU member states who have attempted to introduce supports for micro generation.

I am committed to finding an appropriate mechanism for supporting micro generation, as I believe that micro-generation will have an important role in Ireland’s transition to a carbon free economy, in assisting Ireland meet its renewable electricity targets, and increasing social acceptance of and promoting renewable energy projects.

I have asked the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) to facilitate a workshop on micro generation, and this will take place in October. All relevant stakeholders will be invited to participate with the end goal being the development of a policy position on how best to support micro generation in Ireland.