Vol. 415 No. 8
211 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Energy if he has allocated any finance under the SAVE programme, which was approved by the European Commission in October 1990, for the purpose of efficiency in energy conservation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
SAVE is a five-year EC Community programme with a total budget of 35 million ECU, of which 14 million ECU are for the first two years, 1991 and 1992.
Under the SAVE Programme, the European Commission will provide financial assistance to member states for certain initiatives, mainly information and training activities, related to energy efficiency and sectoral pilot projects. The Commission has yet to establish guidelines for the support of such measures and when these become available, my Department will submit proposed initiatives under SAVE to the EC Commission.
The EC Commission has approved 227,000 ECU in grant aid towards the cost of a study to be undertaken by the ESB in the area of least cost planning. That approval followed an invitation under the SAVE Programme from the EC Commission for the submission of proposals for studies in this area from utilities within the Community. The ESB proposal was among those selected for grant aid.
