Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 May 2014
117. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding the memorandum of understanding between his Government and the British Government on wind energy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12779/14]
View answerIn January last year the UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Mr. Ed Davey MP and I signed a Memorandum of Understanding on energy cooperation. That Memorandum demonstrated our shared interest in developing the opportunity to export green electricity from Ireland to Britain. A key objective was to realise the potential for investment, jobs and growth. An agreed programme of work was put into place with work-streams across several areas.
Economic analysis conducted by my officials, with significant inputs from ESRI and NewERA indicates that under agreed policy and regulatory conditions, renewable energy trading can deliver significant economic benefits to Ireland and the UK, and would also be attractive to commercial investors and developers. However, progressing to an Inter-Governmental Agreement on renewable energy trading would require any IGA to be designed in a manner that would work for both countries. In that regard, the UK side is not yet in a position to take certain key decisions regarding quantity of energy to be procured, the regulatory treatment of Irish assets, the structure of subsidies to Irish developers and the resultant financial flows.
Following further discussions since the Summit between the Taoiseach and Prime Minister Cameron in early March, I am confirmed in the view that given the economic, policy and regulatory complexities involved, and the outstanding decisions to be taken by the UK, delivery by 2020 of an IGA to facilitate energy export is not now a realistic proposition. While it has not been possible at this time to conclude an agreement, I do believe that in the context of a European Internal Energy Market, greater trade in energy between Britain and Ireland is inevitable in the post 2020 scenario.
