Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 February 2013
204. Deputy Paudie Coffey asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources what the micro-generators of renewable energy infrastructure, both domestic and commercial, may expect for price per KWH unit when exporting electricity to the national grid; the way this compares to other EU States; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10556/13]
View answerElectric Ireland has been offering a 9c/kwh feed in tariff, on a commercial basis, to domestic microgenerators since February 2009. No other electricity supply company has to date chosen to enter the market and to offer a microgeneration feed-in-tariff on a commercial basis, although the Commission for Energy Regulation invited them to do so. No company has opted to offer, on a commercial basis, a feed-in-tariff for microgeneration to the commercial and industrial sectors. Previously, a joint ESB/Electric Ireland microgeneration support scheme for the domestic sector offering a total of 19c/kwh (comprising 10c/kwh from ESB Networks combined with the 9c/kwh from ESB Customer Supply (now Electric Ireland)) ran for 3 years (February 2009-February 2012) and had a take up of between 500 and 600 installations. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has been asked to provide my Department with analysis of other means through which the microgeneration sector could be supported, apart from through a feed-in-tariff funded from the Public Service Obligation. In 2009, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) initiated a pilot microgeneration programme. This involved 42 installations of various microgeneration technologies. A final monitoring report on the performance of the installations and learning from the programme is awaited from SEAI. This will inform future policy development. In view of falling technology costs, the Department has also asked SEAI to update analysis on the costs of varying levels of support for microgeneration technologies, with a view to considering how the sector could be supported in the future.
