Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 January 2014
10. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 313 and 314 of 10 December 2013, when he expects the progress report on Ireland's national renewable energy action plan to be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4305/14]
View answerThe 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive set Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020.
The Directive requires that Member States set out in a National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) their trajectories towards meeting these targets and the measures to be taken to achieve these targets. Ireland's NREAP assumes Ireland's 16% target will be met incrementally at around 1% per annum. It also provides that 40% of electricity demand, 12% of heating and 10% of transport power be produced from renewable sources.
The first progress report on Ireland's NREAP was submitted in January 2012 and the second progress report, covering the years 2011 and 2012, is due and its completion is being prioritised to be submitted to the European Commission very shortly. Figures for 2012 compiled by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, and which will be included in the report, indicate that 7.1% of our overall energy requirements were met from renewable sources which is up from 6.5% in 2011. In 2012, renewable energy sources made up 19.6% in electricity, 5.2% in heat and 3.8% in transport.
It has been found that renewable electricity generation from large scale wind farms is the most cost effective way to reach Ireland’s 2020 renewable electricity target and it is estimated that a total of between 3,500 and 4,000 MW of onshore renewable generation capacity will be required for 2020.
In this regard, there continues to be significant progress in increasing the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy. To date, wind energy has been the largest driver of growth in renewable electricity, contributing most towards the achievement of the 2020 target and, by September 2013, 16.3% of Ireland's electricity demand was met by wind generation. At the end of 2013, the total amount of renewable generation connected to the grid was approximately 2,300 MW and indicative figures from Eirgrid suggest that 240MW of wind electricity connected to the grid in 2013.
