Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:6. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans for meeting our renewable energy targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40410/14]
Other Questions
Renewable Energy Generation Targets
The thread of these questions continues so I might take up where I left off. A major concern is that private wind energy companies is not the best way to invest our money in terms of developing renewable energy. In an article in The Irish Times, which the Minister probably read, Dr. Anthony White, who is the co-founder of BW Energy and is a low carbon and power market specialist, stated:
If wind power is so cheap, why does it need special treatment, in the form of guaranteed feed-in tariffs, and why are Ireland's household power prices today 20 per cent higher than the European average?
If it is so "green", why have Ireland's CO2 emissions per kWh from power generation actually increased since 2009.
Those are serious questions.
The 2009 renewable energy directive set Ireland a target of meeting 16% of total energy demand from renewable sources by 2020. I will skip over the figures I gave earlier to the House.
There is currently over 2,400 MW of renewable generation connected to the Irish grid. It is estimated that a total installed capacity of between 3,500 and 4,000 MW will be required in 2020. This is renewable generation from whatever source. Around 3,300 MW of additional renewable generation, predominantly from wind generation, has accepted grid connection offers. However, achievement of the renewable electricity target will be challenging. In order to achieve 40% target by 2020, an increase in the rate of build of both renewable generation infrastructure and the electricity transmission network will be required. Comprehensive engagement with local communities on the benefits for citizens of realising the potential of our indigenous renewable electricity resources will be essential to the roll-out of the infrastructure required.
Progress towards the renewable heat target is also proving challenging. Estimates by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland show that current policies will not deliver fully on our target of 12% renewable energy in the heat sector by 2020. In this regard, the analysis underpinning the draft bioenergy plan I mentioned earlier, which was published this month, sets out how an additional bioenergy focused measure in the heat sector would be a cost effective means of meeting Ireland's renewable energy heat target. The draft plan recommends, subject to State aid clearance and further Government approval, that a renewable heat incentive would be introduced in 2016 that would incentivise larger heat users to convert to renewable heating solutions.
The deployment of sustainable biofuels, as the Deputy is advocating, through the biofuels obligation scheme, will be the primary mechanism through which progression to the target for renewable transport will be achieved as well. Increased deployment of electric vehicles will also contribute towards the target of 10% of the energy in transport from renewables.
I have made the point. Serious questions need to be answered, and Dr. Anthony White raised some serious questions about whether the significant investment of €3.8 billion we are putting in in a particular area of industrial wind and so on is the best place to invest it. We need to answer those questions very quickly. When the Minister says he wants to consult with all those who are interested, what is he proposing in that regard because there is a lot of stakeholders and people interested? I note with annoyance and anger that it costs €1,000 to attend some of these big conferences.
Could we have a conference that ordinary people interested in this area could attend to discuss these matters?
A proposal put to me by people interested in afforestation, and which I believe is implemented in many parts of Europe, is for district energy heating systems and local energy co-operatives. Under the proposal, there would not be a big, centralised, industrialised model; rather, one would determine the extent to which specific areas and towns could generate their own energy, with some assistance from the State in terms of land and local community support, potentially developing local employment and resulting in much greater economic benefits. Could the Minister comment on that?
The consultation with citizens and local communities has not been adequate and must improve radically. As I mentioned, the Green Paper was published earlier this year. We have received many submissions and responses to it and have gone through them. We have organised a series of nine or ten seminars across the country as an initial response to the submissions. I launched the series some weeks ago. Deputy Colreavy attended the seminar where we launched the second phase of the consultation process. The objective is to work out our energy strategy for the country for the next 20 years, or the next generation. I want to publish by next summer a new strategy to which we can all buy in. We have six months. The Deputy says this should be done urgently. I acknowledge there is some urgency but we need the six months. We are having the seminars and are not charging anybody to enter. One must submit a written expression of interest in attending but we are not charging €1,000. I want to engage with communities, individuals and the Members of this House.
I genuinely welcome that response. I agree that we need a little time, although we should not take too much time. There is urgency but we need real consultation and buy-in. We need to tap into the expertise, knowledge, ideas and enthusiasm of communities and people who know about this matter. I must press my proposal, which has been given to me by others who know more about it than I do but which is a very good idea. I refer to the idea of district energy heating and local energy co-operatives. It requires joined-up thinking with Coillte, which, as I said to the Taoiseach some days ago, has 500,000 acres of land, as identified in the McCarthy report. The company believes the very narrow commercial wood-growing approach is just not viable for it, but it might be very viable for local communities to take some of that land at a peppercorn rent and develop projects thereon growing trees and creating other energy systems, such as small-scale hydroelectric and wind systems, thereby generating real employment. The Minister should seriously think about that and engage with the people proposing this.
I am aware of those kinds of initiatives and would certainly like to support them as best I can. If the Deputy has any additional information that he wants me to have, he should please furnish it to me, and I will certainly consider it.
There is significant scope for district schemes. I have seen evidence of their success in other countries, including in northern Europe. I did not see the schemes in operation but I have read about them and understand them. To date, our progression towards our quite exacting targets – we will receive more tomorrow – has been through onshore wind projects predominantly. I saw Dr. White's article but wind technology has been widely acknowledged so far as the most cost-efficient technology in terms of how the REFIT schemes work and the kinds of interventions that need to occur. This was further supported by an interim report on energy subsidies published by the commission last week. Our current support structures for renewable energy are among the most cost-effective in Europe. I am being absolutely objective in giving the House that information. If we want to shift from that, we need to understand that it is not just a question of abandoning something because we must replace it with something else. Thus far, wind technology appears to have been the most successful, cheap and reliable form of renewable energy production. Let us see what we can achieve.
Wind Energy Generation
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:7. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on the viability and value for money of wind energy as the primary renewable energy being pursued here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40409/14]
I genuinely welcome the Minister's engagement. This is my last shot on the same theme. There are some serious questions to be answered and I would like a little more detail. The Taoiseach was pleading to the European Union for concessions on our targets yesterday because of the difficulties we are having. He states we have a big agriculture sector and refers to other factors. The Minister said that we are not meeting the targets in some areas. Therefore, we must address this. Dr. Anthony White states in his article that our focus on wind energy could be part of the problem. I would like the Minister to revert to me on this. Dr. White points out that carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt from power generation have actually increased since 2009. Therefore, the expansion of wind energy has not contributed significantly to the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. This may explain why we are not doing well in meeting our targets; we are looking in the wrong area.
Onshore wind energy has been the most cost-efficient renewable electricity technology in the Irish market. We have installed wind generation capacity of over 2,200 MW, and provisional 2013 figures indicate that 16.5% of electricity demand was met by wind generation. Detailed analysis by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, and EirGrid found that, for 2011, wind generation did not add to consumer prices as it lowered wholesale prices sufficiently to offset the costs of the public service obligation levy, and other associated costs, related to renewable electricity.
The recently published SEAI report on quantifying Ireland’s fuel and carbon dioxide emissions savings from renewable electricity in 2012 found that, as a result of wind generation, almost 600 kilotonnes of oil equivalent of fossil fuels were displaced, valued at €180 million, with a consequent carbon dioxide saving of 1.5 million tonnes, valued at €11 million. Analysis undertaken by my Department, SEAI, EirGrid and the Commission for Energy Regulation assessed the costs and value of choosing the path towards 40% renewable electricity generation in 2020 compared to a scenario where renewable electricity would remain at 2013 levels. This analysis informed a report which is expected to be published shortly.
In addition to wind energy, bioenergy will play a critical role in diversifying our renewable generation portfolio and contributing to our renewable targets. To support the sector, I recently published a draft bioenergy plan, which will be subject to strategic environmental and appropriate assessments. The draft plan addresses the role of biomass in renewable electricity and how biomass is likely to make a more significant contribution in terms of renewable heat and transport.
Over the medium to longer terms, our wave and tidal resources, currently at the research, development and demonstration stage, will make a valuable contribution to renewable electricity. The Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan identifies this opportunity for Ireland and proposes an initial market support scheme, limited to 30 MW, to support the sector's development.
I welcome the consideration of bioenergy and the willingness of the Minister to scrutinise these issues seriously. I have indicated my disposition towards focusing more on district energy and local energy co-operatives using a sustainable mix of energy-production technologies that will be more in tune with community interests and potentially generate local employment. Much of the emphasis has been on industrial wind turbines. How is it that although wind generation has expanded by 40%, it is being claimed that carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt of power generated have increased? Perhaps the Minister will confirm whether this is true. Might it be because there are hidden environmental costs contributing to carbon dioxide emissions? This is the contention of many of the critics of industrial wind turbines. Are we taking into account the big emission cost of the expansion or beefing up of the transmission network?
We are going to need the network. I am not really quite sure why it is being suggested that the expansion of wind energy generation has achieved the opposite to what was intended.
That is the contention.
It is hard for me to see how that could be true but I am not going to dismiss any argument on my feet here.
These are the kinds of issues that it would be helpful for the Oireachtas joint committee - it is not my role to say what the Oireachtas joint committee should do - to have witnesses in, for example, Dr. White of the sustainable energy authority and all the others who are involved in this issue, and question and cross-examine them as witnesses, and let us all try to get to the evidence on all of these arguments. If a case is made, if somebody writes an opinion editorial in The Irish Times one day and there is another the next day that one misses, or someone writes a letter to the newspaper with the opposite argument, it would be better for the committee to pull together systematically all of the arguments being made, perhaps cross-examine the witnesses in that way and see where we go.
I agree with the Minister. That is exactly what we need to do. Unfortunately, I am not on that committee. I wish I was, but I am on two committees already. However, I will sit in.
One cannot be on every committee.
Deputy Boyd Barrett is not doing too bad this morning.
I have an interest in this area.
What the Minister suggests is fair enough. Let us look at it honestly and let us get all the different opinions in and give them a chance to put forward their views. Many of them feel they are not being fully listened to and that a particular lobby that has had all the hearing is getting all the support and resources, which is not necessarily the most useful cost-effective and environmentally sustainable way to develop renewable energy, and that must be addressed if we are to move this matter forward.
I again draw the attention of the Deputy and the House to the Green Paper-White Paper process and the six months or so between now and the summer that I indicated where there should be no excuse for any of these arguments not being considered and scrutinised, and the opportunity that then presents to us, not only the Government but the country and Parliament, to put in place the best possible energy policy for future generations. That is what we should use this process for.
I appeal to Deputy Boyd Barrett, the Opposition spokespersons and all Members of this and the other House to participate in this process, whether through the committee or directly in the consultation process that arises from the Green Paper. We will publish this definitive strategy next summer. Let us all get involved in it.
Broadband Service Provision
David Stanton
Question:8. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to Parliamentary Question No. 40 of 11 March 2014 regarding the State-led investment aspect of the national broadband plan, when he expects to be in a position to commence the public procurement process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40359/14]
This issue of broadband arose earlier in a question which I am sorry I missed. I have received complaints from places, such as the outskirts of Fermoy, in particular, Knockraha, which is outside Cork city, where Eircom tells us it is not economically feasible to upgrade the exchange to enable broadband to be provided to the residents, and those who are working from home, in small businesses etc., are finding it extremely difficult. This is urgent. Schools in some rural areas are also finding it difficult. Perhaps the Minister can give us an update.
The question relates to the State-led investment aspect of the plan and when I expect to be in a position to commence the public procurement process.
Under the national broadband plan the Government aims to ensure that high-speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses in Ireland, through a combination of commercial investment and a State-led intervention.
The commercial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately €2.5 billion in network upgrades and at least 1.6 million of the 2.3 million addresses in Ireland are expected to have access to commercial high-speed broadband services over the next number of years.
Under EU state-aid guidelines, member states cannot intervene where commercial investors have plans to roll out services. A comprehensive mapping exercise is under way in my Department to identify those areas that require State intervention. An initial examination has already identified a significant number of areas that will require State intervention.
As part of the mapping process, an initial stakeholder consultation on certain technical aspects of the proposed plan was launched in June last with a deadline of 15 September. Some 32 submissions were received as part of this process and non-commercially sensitive versions of these responses are being published today on my Department's website - that was the reference I made earlier to Deputy Moynihan about something happening this week.
I intend to publish shortly the map to which I referred. Those accessing this map will be able to identify their own house or premises and see whether it is in the proposed intervention footprint. Where a house or premises is not in the proposed intervention area, it means it either currently has, or will in the near future have, access to commercial high-speed broadband services. The map will be subject to change as new information becomes available or commercial investments are announced in the future.
A further public consultation on a detailed intervention strategy will be launched in mid-2015. My Department is also working closely with the European Commission with a view to obtaining state aid clearance.
I thank the Minister for his reply. Could he be more specific as to when these maps will be published to allow the public to see what services they can expect to be available in the homes? When does he expect to be in a position to get EU state aid clearance from the European Commission? Can he give an indicative timetable on that? Can he say a little more about the public procurement process? What kind of timescale is involved in this?
On the publication of the maps, I intend that should be done during the course of November. On obtaining state aid clearance, the expectation is that could be obtained during the course of 2015, I hope in the period from the middle to the autumn of 2015. Obviously, we are subject to the exigencies of the application process, the detailed information that must be furnished and the interaction that needs to occur. The detailed procurement process the Deputy mentions will then ensue. That must be undertaken in order to select a potential preferred bidder or bidders, and I expect that to happen towards the end of 2015.
It is a complex and ambitious project. It is a key priority for the Government and for my Department. We will conclusively address the connectivity challenges that Deputy Stanton referred to in particular areas. I agree there is frustration and a real need for quality universal broadband services to be available for citizens, business, schools and for all of the services and activities we need to ensure a functioning economy and society.
I ask the Minister his views on the need for high-speed broadband connectivity in schools in rural areas, whether he would agree this should be a priority, and if he has had any consultation with his colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, on this issue.
On schools, we have essentially completed the project in the secondary school system. That is a significant and important initiative. I have seen it in operation in a number of schools and it is a considerable achievement of my Department and the Department of Education of Skills.
On the primary school sector, I have had some discussions with officials recently. There is a view, because there are far more primary schools across the country some of which are in relatively more remote areas, that we should integrate the plan for extending broadband to primary schools into the national broadband plan rather than have a specified programme for primary schools. I am interested in how to deliver it quickest. It may be the best way to do it. I do not yet have a final view on that and I am interested in Members' input in that regard, but that might be the most efficient and best way to expedite it.
The frustration evident in Deputy Stanton's question brings me back to the points I made earlier. It is time we had a full debate in Dáil Éireann on the broadband strategy and how we go forward. All we have are targets, initiatives and plans, but there is no real impetus down to the schools and communities in rural areas. I call for an urgent debate here with all Members of the Oireachtas, including Seanad Éireann, because this is a crucial issue as we go forward.
The scheduling of debating time is not a matter for me; it is for the Whips. If a debate is what is being suggested, it certainly will not be opposed by me.
I plan to ensure that we have a quarterly report available to the House. Deputy Moynihan and the other Members see targets and dates and perhaps the best way of ensuring the process is structured is to provide a quarterly report, perhaps to the committee. I am open to discussion as to how best we might do that. In order that one is not being told of something occurring in spring, summer or autumn next, at the end of each quarter one would be able to see what happened in that quarter to progress the project and what is planned in the following quarter.
Members will be able to benchmark me against what is outlined in the quarterly report on each occasion. I have no objection to a debate.
Geological Survey of Ireland
Michael Colreavy
Question:9. Deputy Michael Colreavy asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the additional scope of the Tellus project following an increase in funding in this year’s budget. [40391/14]
The Tellus project received additional funding in the recently announced budget. I assume there is an expanded scope or coverage of the project. Could the Minister of State describe what is involved in the expanded project?
I thank the Deputy for tabling the question on this exciting project that will be most helpful in terms of the information provided to many sectors and key stakeholders. The Estimates for my Department published as part of budget 2015 include provision of €3 million next year for the Tellus project, which is a comprehensive environmental and resource mapping project being undertaken by the Geological Survey of Ireland. The project has already completed one phase of geological data collection of the rocks, soils and waters in the Border counties, funded by European Regional Development Funds. It is currently undertaking a second phase of geophysical data acquisition and soil sampling across counties Longford, Roscommon and Westmeath. The allocation in 2015 will allow for a further phase of geophysical surveying and soil sampling and analysis to be undertaken. The areas for surveying under this next phase will be based on progress on the existing three midland counties this year, assessment of logistics of terrain to be flown in contiguous areas and consideration of the priorities of other sectoral stakeholders' interests, such as agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency's, EPA, Office of Radiological Protection.
The long-term objective is to complete eventually national coverage of geophysical and geochemical surveying. I understand a cost-benefit analysis by University College Dublin, UCD, demonstrated a 5:1 return on investment to the State for such a comprehensive survey, which of course has to be managed within available resources. Information from this project is freely and openly available to all citizens. I encourage everyone to access the information, including primary schools and secondary schools. It is collected to assist environmental management and support sustainable development of natural resources across Ireland. I am advised that the data collected to date has already proven to have application across many sectors including informing agricultural productivity, radon mapping, mineral exploration and environmental management.
I agree with the Minister of State that the project is worthwhile and the information is useful. I expect the information will be particularly useful to energy companies considering setting up operations in this country. Has private industry provided funding for the project or is it only Government expenditure? Will the data from the project be matched with the survey results on areas considered to be at high risk of potential water contamination in order to inform decision making in the future?
The previous survey was funded through INTERREG in conjunction with the Department. The allocation of €3 million this year is solely from the Department. A broad range of benefactors exist. The organisations that have already been using the information include local authorities, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and Teagasc.
Deputy Colreavy mentioned groundwater. The information is invaluable in terms of providing up-to-date information on potential water contamination. Anybody can access the information, including companies, as it is widely and publicly available. The project includes a partnership approach involving organisations such as Teagasc.
I am impressed with the consultative nature of the project. The public was informed about it even before the low-flying aircraft appeared in the skies over Westmeath, Longford and Roscommon. You will be pleased to hear, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, that an information booklet was disseminated in both Irish and English. The consultation has been helpful. If anybody sees an aircraft flying at a height of approximately 90 m with an apparatus suspended approximately 45 m below the aeroplane, that is part of the survey. The information is critical. Information is in the public domain and it is important to work together on the project. The direction in which the project is going has not yet been identified but we will use the information from the current survey on the three counties outlined. Ultimately, the project will form part of a national mapping analysis.
I have no further questions as the Minister of State has answered all my questions.
Written Answers follow Adjournment.