Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

54. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the safeguards that he will put in place to ensure that communities can access supports for community renewable energy projects and to avoid supporting developers attempting to develop projects through a back door; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61483/21]

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

The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) is the main Government policy to help deliver on our objective of up to 80% renewable electricity by 2030. The RESS supports communities in a variety of ways, including through a separate category for community projects and a mandatory community benefit fund for every project supported in the scheme.

The Climate Action Plan includes a target for at least 500 MW of renewable electricity to be supplied by local community-based projects, meaning approximately 100 community projects will be needed to meet this ambition. In order to ensure such a pipeline of community projects I have allocated €2 million in capital funding in Budget 2022 to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). This funding will enable SEAI to deploy a range of capacity-building supports including an information warehouse, trusted intermediary and advisor services, and financial grant supports, all of which are vital to support community-owned RESS projects development. Some of this enabling framework is already in place with additional elements to be delivered in early 2022.

To ensure genuine community participation for future RESS auctions, only projects 100% owned by a Renewable Energy Community (REC) will be eligible for the separate community category, ensuring that all of the benefits of the project stay in the local area. The REC definition employed in RESS was derived from the REC definition provided through the EU’s Clean Energy Package, with particular reference to Article 22 of the recast Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001. Accordingly, a REC must be open to all potential local members and its primary purpose should be to provide environmental, economic or social community benefits for the local areas where it operates, rather than financial profits.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

55. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated output of installed capacity of renewable energy available to the national grid by province; the steps he intends taking in ensuring that all areas of the country and their coastlines contribute equally to this national effort; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61408/21]

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

Currently, over 4.5 GW of renewable generation is connected to the electricity grid. The System Operators, EirGrid and ESB Networks, publish every quarter an updated list of individually connected renewable generators on their websites including details of capacity and location.

The indicative electricity capacity targets set out in the Climate Action Plan 2021, envisage up to 8 GW of onshore wind, at least 5 GW of offshore wind and between 1.5 – 2.5 solar PV capacity by 2030. To meet these ambitious targets, it is vital that we take the necessary steps to deliver a more coherent spatial planning framework that supports the delivery of this additional electricity generation and aligns our national targets to the regional level. A series of actions are underway to deliver a more facilitative spatial planning framework for renewable electricity generation development. Specifically, the SEAI’s Methodology for Local Authority Renewable Energy Strategies will be revised to provide a best practice approach to identifying and assessing renewable energy resources in spatial planning at local authority level. Furthermore, my Department will set out an approach and target for the total onshore capacity that should be planned for on a national and regional level.