Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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451. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the current or planned incentives available for solar or wind energy projects. [40368/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Current financial supports for renewable electricity projects in Ireland are provided via the Renewable Electricity Feed-In-Tariff (REFIT) schemes, which support renewable electricity generated and exported into the national grid. Renewable technologies supported under the REFIT schemes include Onshore Wind, Hydro, Biomass Landfill Gas, Biomass Combustion, Biomass CHP and Anaerobic Digestion CHP. At present, Solar PV, for electricity generation, is not supported under any of these REFIT schemes.  This is largely down to the historic higher costs associated with Solar PV in conjunction to other renewable electricity technologies.

However, 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 that Solar PV has the potential to contribute to meeting Ireland’s renewable energy and climate change objectives.

To support the delivery of this ambition, my Department is developing a new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) which will be designed to assist Ireland in meeting its renewable energy contributions out to 2030.

The design of this new scheme included an extensive economic appraisal. This appraisal compared the cost of supporting Solar PV (both rooftop and ground mounted), Onshore and Offshore Wind 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 consultation, a design proposal will be brought to Government for approval. Full details of the consultation are available on my Department’s website at:www.dccae.gov.ie

Finally, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland currently provides supports for the use of solar thermal heating technology to both large industry and SMEs. Households can also avail of grant support for investment in renewable energy installations, including solar thermal, under the Better Energy Homes Scheme.