Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 March 2012
325 Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that persons who do not have land, planning permission or wind farms have applied and received grid application offers from EirGrid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12668/12]
View answerResponsibility for the grid connection process is vested in the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER). I have no function in the matter. The CER operates a group approach to connecting projects to the national grid. The latest group approach, ‘Gate 3', was the subject of extensive public consultation by the CER prior to the design and roll out of the process. Following the consultation, CER made the decision to offer grid connections in Gate 3 based on completed date of applications to the system operator for grid connections and not to take other criteria such as land ownership or planning permission into account.
All those developers in Gate 3 have now received grid connection offers from EirGrid or ESB Networks, although the rate of take-up of these offers is not yet known. Grid Connection offers require a deposit to be paid at the time of acceptance which is related to the size of the project involved. This is designed to ensure that developers have demonstrable commitment to developing the project applied for.
326 Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a number of persons who have received grid application offers from EirGrid are selling these offers on the market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12669/12]
View answerIn accordance with the Electricity Regulation Act 1999, the statutory responsibility for the processing of connections to the electricity network and the costs related thereto are a matter for the system operator and the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) in the first instance. I have no function in relation to national grid access.
327 Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the length of time on average it will take a new grid application to obtain a grid offer connection. [12670/12]
View answerIn accordance with the Electricity Regulation Act 1999, the statutory responsibility for the processing of connections to the electricity network and the costs related thereto are a matter for the system operator and the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) in the first instance. I have no function in relation to national grid access.
