Tá sé riachtanach go mbeidh Bord Solathar an Leictreachais ullamh chun freastal ar an éileamh fuinnimh. Seachas stad nó laghdú beag anois is arís, bionn an t-éileamh seo ag dul i méid i gcónaí agus ni thiocfadh borradh agus fás san eacnamíocht, ar a bhfuilimíd ag braith chun fostaíocht a sholáthar dár ndaoine óga, gan an t-éileamh sin a shásamh. Braitheann tionsclaíocht agus eacnamaíocht na tíre go mór ar chumas agus éifeacht Bhoird Soláthair an Leictreachais. Ó bhunú an bhoird sin nuair a cuireadh tús le Scéim na Sionainne go luath tar éis bhunú an stáit féin is mór mar a chuir BSL le dul chun cinn na tíre. Is chun deimhin a dhéanamh de go mbeidh sé ar chumas an bhoird leanúint leis an dea obair sin atá an Bille seo á chur ós comhair an tSeanaid agam inniu.
The purpose of the Bill is to raise from £1,200 million to £1,400 million the limit on total expenditure by the ESB for capital purposes. Senators will be aware that the primary function of the ESB, under the Electricity Supply Acts, is to ensure the adequate supply and distribution of electricity throughout the State. The board has a number of other subsidiary functions but we are concerned here with the board's main responsibility to ensure that electricity is at no time in short supply.
The history of electricity generation in Ireland since the ESB was established over 50 years ago shows that although there were periods when demand levelled off, overall there has been a steady increase in electricity consumption over the years. The enormous growth in demand over the past 50 years is illustrated by the following figures: in 1930 the ESB had 50,000 customers and sold 43 million units of electricity. At year ended March 1980 the ESB had one million customers and sold 8,560 million units of electricity. This means that a 20fold increase in customers created sales almost 200 times greater.
In order to keep pace with this demand there has been a continuing capital investment in electricity generating plant and networks. Generating capacity now stands at 3,090MW, compared with something in the region of 85MW when the ESB was in its infancy. This reflects our increasing reliance on electricity in industry, commerce and the home and demonstrates its essential function in the economic and social expansion of the country. Electricity now accounts for about 31 per cent of our energy requirements.
Demand for electricity is closely allied to economic and social development and therefore it is in the nature of things that it can be expected to increase. Planning to meet that demand is very complex requiring a high degree of flexibility. The long lead time of eight years or more required for the construction of base load plant means that we are now building to meet expected electricity demand at the end of the decade. Such long-term planning requires flexibility to allow for factors which are not readily predictable. This is why flexibility is an integral part of the plant programme currently approved in respect of the ESB. The plant programme envisages an additional capacity of 1,435MW, towards the end of the decade but about 32 per cent of this is in the form of combustion turbines. These are intended to meet peak demand. Because of their relatively short lead time of about three years, their construction can be deferred to coincide with any fall off in electricity demand, for whatever reason. This is the flexible element of the plant programme.
Of course increased investment in plant entails expansion and improvement of transmission and distribution networks. A significant proportion of the ESB's capital investment goes into such works. But there is another element in our energy strategy which is of vital importance. We must decrease as much as possible our dependence on oil. At present, generating capacity is about 54 per cent oil-fired. In the knowledge that oil is a rapidly diminishing resource, it is only prudent that we should reduce our reliance on that particular energy source for electricity generation. This is why base load plant recently constructed and currently under construction is intended to be fired by fuels other than oil.
A major diversification away from oil will have been achieved when the 900 MW coal-fired station at Moneypoint is commissioned between 1985 and 1988. Construction of an additional 80 MW of peat-fired plant, some 240 MW of dualfired plant which will accommodate natural gas and the prospect of over 45 MW of plant burning low grade native coal will ensure maximum use of native resources and make a not insignificant contribution to the programme of diversification. Thus, towards the end of the eighties we will have reduced to just over 40 per cent the amount of our generating capacity which is dependent on oil.
Although the plant programme which I have outlined is the mainstay of our strategy in relation to diversification for electricity generation, we would be lacking in responsibility if we did not assess the prospects of alternative energy sources in the face of finite and shrinking conventional resources. The ESB are playing their role in this regard. A practical example of this is the board's current windpower programme. Four medium-sized wind turbines will be sited in four different locations to again first-hand knowledge of the economics, efficiency, reliability and availability of wind energy in the Irish environment. The programme will cost an estimated £630,000. The ESB have also been examining the possibilities of biomass as an energy source. This project is EEC supported and is being carried out in conjunction with Bord na Móna and the Forestry and Wildlife Service. The ESB have, in fact, been successfully using wood waste and thinnings combined with slack in their smaller stations.
In the field of wave energy, the board participate in tests being carried out in Japan and Britain and monitors developments world wide. While practically all of the major hydro sources have been developed a number of rivers have been surveyed for small hydro potential and work on a project for the Ballisodare river is continuing. The board also provide an advisory service to the public in regard to private development of small hydro resources. My Department are at present examining the possibility of making funds available for such development.
For almost a decade the ESB have been interested in the prospects of district heating. A project demonstrating the commercial use of residual heat derived from electricity generation is now well advanced at the Lanesboro power stain tion. District heating studies are being undertaken in the Dublin inner city areas and the Mahon Peninsula near Cork city. The ESB have been commissioned by Dublin Corporation to study the possibility of incinerating refuse to fuel the Ballymun district heating system. This system at present uses oil.
In the past few years, the ESB have played an important role in energy conservation in the domestic and industrial sectors. Since 1974 the ESB's advisory service for industry has been helping industry to achieve economies in energy usage through conservation and efficient usage.
In the domestic sector, the board have launched publicity campaigns with various conservation themes, including the issue of leaflets and booklets on the efficient use of energy. It is interesting to note that many of the applications for grants under my Department's attic insulation scheme are the result of promotional activity by the board.
Within the next couple of years there is the prospect that natural gas will be piped to Dublin and other centres of high population density. All these developments taken together should contribute towards bringing down the level of peak demand for electricity. This, in turn, should contribute to a reduction in capital investment on new plant in the long term.
On the question of nuclear energy as a source of electricity in Ireland I would emphasise that the Government's policy is quite clear. No final decision will be taken until such time as a thorough examination of all relevant aspects, including safety, economic and environmental considerations, has been completed.
It is a matter of considerable regret that the electricity inter-connector with the North has been out of action since 1975. The interconnector proved its value when it was in operation in the early seventies. If it had remained undamaged it would have enhanced our security of electricity supply, provided considerable savings in fuel consumption, created the prospect of significant savings in capital investment in plant and provided profitable opportunities for trading of electricity. I am sure it is the will of this House and of the people as a whole that those responsible should realise the immeasurable damage to the economy their actions have caused. The Government are determined to pursue their efforts to achieve maximum security of supply and efficiency of operation which interconnection with other electricity grids can provide.
Senators will be aware of the capital and labour intensive nature of the electricity supply industry. For example the capital budget of the ESB in 1981 is expected to be about £209 million. The bulk of this is for construction of plant but some £70 million will be spent on improvement of networks. The number of new jobs arising out of that expenditure is expected to be in the region of 1,350. The expected breakdown of capital expenditure in the period 1982 to 1985 is as follows: generation projects — £700 million; transmission — £150 million; distribution — £200 million; premises and general — £50 million.
The existing statutory limit on capital expenditure by the ESB was increased by £500 million to £1,200 million under the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1979. This was sufficient to meet the ESB's requirements for about two years and the stage has been reached where capital expenditure by the ESB in excess of the present limit is unavoidable. It is necessary, therefore, that the limit should be raised to £1,400 million to enable the ESB to get on with their capital programme. The increase now proposed will meet the ESB's requirements for only about a year.
However, the ESB have put proposals to my Department that future statutory limits should be expressed as a borrowing limit as in the case of other State bodies such as Bord na Móna and Bord Gáis Éireann and not as an expenditure limit. The proposed increase in the expenditure limit is therefore an interim measure until my Department, in consultation with the Department of Finance, have considered the ESB's alternative proposals.
I commend this Bill to the House.