From a Kerry perspective, we are not just a local authority on its own. As the mayor has outlined, we are a group with representatives from the forestry division of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; Meitheal; Foraois Chiarraí; the Irish Farmers Association; Teagasc, the Institute of Technology, Tralee; the partnership company, North-East Kerry Development; and Kerry local authorities. It was a team collectively that made this application.
From a Kerry perspective, we have set out a vision statement for the county which we would like to continue and bring to fruition, that is, establishing an energy efficient self-sustaining region with the development of energy centres meeting identified demand, transforming the local economy base through job creation, and achieving a high living standard and an excellent quality of life. Building a new future together is our aim.
We did not start with the application set out in 2009. We have been working on energy efficiency for many years. As the mayor has outlined, we started with a full-time energy officer who was appointed by Kerry Local Authorities in 1999 and through his expertise and good office we have developed a hydro-electric scheme from one of our major regional water supplies. That is saving €100,000 a year on energy costs. We have moved on from that and introduced high efficiency pumps with various speed controls in more than 40 other pump stations, again giving an annual saving of €600,000 a year.
All our new buildings are energy efficient incorporating renewable energy heating, mainly geothermal. Our existing buildings have been retrofitted with high efficiency lighting and controls, and we are now developing a landfill gas project that is generating 1 megawatt of electricity. Members can see it is not something we started only today.
On the housing end, one of our first schemes was to build 64 units to the Sustainable Energy Ireland, SEI, house of tomorrow programme standards, which was 40% above the 2000 building regulations. In that scheme we have an LPG condensing boiler system. We purchase the gas in bulk, and the residents can purchase the gas on a pay by use basis. These pre-payment schemes help to address fuel poverty. We also use solar panels and geothermal heating on those schemes. I will explain later the way the pay by use basis works.
Our second one was the Mitchels regeneration project in Tobar Naofa, which has been a catalyst for what we propose. We built 48 units with a BER rating of between B1 and A2. That is based on a district heating system powered by a 1 megawatt woodchip boiler, which I will explain in more detail later.
We have won a number of energy awards in recent years and are working in partnership with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, proving our track record and our commitment.
One of the main areas we want to cover today is biomass and the use of biomass in the county. There is a total of 55,000 hectares of forest plantation in County Kerry, which is 11.6%, but what is unique to Kerry is that 65% of that is in private ownership. Approximately 1,400 local farm families are involved in it and their average holding is nine hectares, which is quite small in terms of stand alone operations. Much of that planting was done in the 1980s and early 1990s as a long-term investment. With the help of our colleagues here 10% of the national planting target is being achieved in Kerry for the future. We have the resource, therefore, for the future.
On that aspect, because all these plantations were done in the 1980s and 1990s, now is the time to thin the plantations. If they are thinned now the farm families will achieve 25% more income on the quality of their final timber as a result of it but they cannot do it on their own and therefore we are looking at a co-operative approach that will allow the thinnings to be converted into woodchip and sold on the local market. If we had to haul those to the current markets, it would be economic from our point of view.
As part of that, we are working on a co-operative approach. There are two forest producer groups established in the country. There are three woodchip supply companies established and equipped and they have received forest service grant aid. All the operators have received extensive training in wood handling and quality assurance via Teagasc and COFORD and they are also trained in the procurement and tendering process.
With this co-operative approach, there is 50,000 cu. m. of woodchip available annually in the county which could generate 50 MW of heat and 12 MW of electricity. This is a saving, based on current figures, of €8 million on 10.6 million litres saved. Obviously, if the price of oil rises, it is heading in that direction, then the saving will increase. As a result, 112 jobs can be generated through woodchip products. If oil is used as a fuel, 80% of the money goes out of the country whereas with woodchip, 90% of the money stays in the country and county, which is an important issue to note.
We have phase 1 of the woodchip following on from the 1 MW woodchip boiler and by the end of 2011, we will have the first district heating system in place in Kerry. The system will serve 100 housing units, a day-care centre, a national school, a library and an integrated services building. Our aim is to take it forward to phase 2 to develop a 15 MW combined heat and power unit and we will be seeking a partner to bring that forward.
Our target, by 2013, is to have one third of Tralee town, with a population equivalent of 7,000 persons, covered. That would mean 2,000 houses, a hospital, a dairy processing unit, our own county buildings, an industrial estate, three hotels, a sports complex, an aquadome, a primary and secondary school, and the south campus of the college. Our aim then is to bring all of those houses up to a BER rating of C1. This will displace almost €2 million worth of oil and with 14 jobs per €1 million, that would result in another 27 permanent jobs being created. We also have a further long-term aim, on phases 3 and 4, to expand that to all of Tralee making it an entirely energy efficient town working off combined heat.
We are also looking at, and working with the private sector in, developing a similar system in Killarney. Killarney is an important area because it is a major tourist attraction with many large hotels, and we think it is a win-win situation also in Tralee to work on that basis. Briefly, that is where we see Tralee developed on a phased basis and that is our long-term plan.
In terms of retrofitting, as I may have mentioned, we need to get a C1 rating on all of the housing units to make it efficient. We have a pilot scheme of 45 houses complete and working with SEI, we created 30 jobs for the 14 weeks while that was in construction. We improved the rating in these houses from G to C, with a potential saving of between €1,000 and €1,500 on heating and hot water. The average cost of insulation in each house was over €9,500. If we propose, as we will do on phase 2, to retrofit 2,000 houses, that will be a creation of 60 jobs per annum over the period of the project.
Like all of these matters, one of the questions one asks is how one pays for it. The cost will be somewhere between €2,000 and €10,000 for the 2,000 houses, depending on where they are. There are grants and tax reliefs available that will help and the balance will be made up through the pay-as-you-save scheme. If the potential savings of between €1,000 and €1,500 a year are put back in, it will cover the capital costs in a three to five-year period. In many ways, much of that cost for the houses will be self-financing.
The pay-as-you-use pre-payment system is something that we have introduced in a housing scheme in Tralee that is working quite well. The benefit to the householder is that it addresses the issue of fuel poverty. The householders have control over their budget, not having to expend significant sums of money. There will be no bulk purchases of fuel. In itself, it is an energy awareness tool knowing that one is paying as one uses. It will generate hot water and heating on demand and there is an increased comfort level at reduced cost. As I stated, we already have it in 200 houses in Tralee and 60 houses in Killarney, and we are building from experience.
On the wind resource, as covered earlier by Kerry's mayor, we have 14 wind farms producing 225 MW with 223 sustainable jobs in our county. As part of national policy, there is an additional 425 MW to be installed in Kerry by 2020, which will create 1,000 sustainable jobs by 2020. That, with the biomass, puts Kerry to the fore in terms of renewable energy proposals.
Obviously, from a county with one of the largest coastlines, there is significant potential for both ocean and tidal energy. This is something that we have the opportunity to develop in the future.
I acknowledge the committee's recommendation that the Solarteur school should be located in Kerry. We feel it would ideally be located in the Institute of Technology, Tralee. The institute is close to and forms part of the Kerry Technology Park, sharing a campus with four renewable energy companies already on campus. The ITT itself, like the Kerry local authorities, has been active in energy conservation and has received rewards from SEAI and ESB in recognition for what it has done. Together with what we are doing, we believe that the location of the Solarteur school in Tralee makes eminent sense.
In summary, from an employment point of view, in biomass we can see 120 permanent jobs being created; wind will create 1,000 permanent jobs when we reach the national target; Kerry Technology Park, as a result of the Solarteur school, will generate 54 permanent jobs; college lecturing will create a further 12 permanent jobs; retrofitting of the dwellings will created 60 jobs per annum; and plant and pipeline construction, as part of the CHP, will generate a further 70 jobs per annum.
Our next steps, from a county point of view, is to develop a market plan and a branding exercise for Kerry to produce a clear and direct business plan in order to avail of funding opportunities and to develop a timescale and a project structure or framework plan, and to establish a co-operative system within the Kerry wood harvesting, which we have commenced. I suppose what we are saying is that we have the team and we have the commitment and what we are looking for here is national support to ensure that many of these projects will come to fruition. That is a brief overview. I hope I have not taken up too much time.
