Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 January 2015
23. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in view of the employment of 11,695 persons in the renewables sector in Scotland in 2013, the number employed in the renewable sector here; the reason for the variance; and his plans regarding same. [3672/15]
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, to be achieved through 40% renewables in electricity, 12% in heat and 10% in transport. In 2013, 20.9% of electricity, 5.7% of heat and 4.9% of transport, were met from renewable sources. In terms of achieving our 2020 targets, to date wind energy has been the largest driver of growth in renewable electricity in Ireland. In 2013, 16.5% of Ireland’s electricity demand was met by wind generation.
The economic benefits of the transition to renewable energy include employment from the construction and maintenance of generation infrastructure as well as from component manufacturing. Employment creation is strongly linked to the level of deployment and hence will be further strengthened as we continue this transition.
An Irish Wind Energy Association member survey in 2014 indicated that 3,400 people are employed in the sector in Ireland. A report published in 2014 by the ESRI and Trinity College Dublin, estimated direct and indirect employment under various realistic scenarios. The report, which estimates multiple thousands of jobs depending on the scenario, is available on the ESRI's website at www.esri.ie .
Additionally, biomass can replace imports of fossil fuels and contribute to job creation in Ireland. The availability of competitively priced locally-sourced biomass has the potential to enhance the opportunities for local employment in the sector. A report commissioned by the Irish Bioenergy Association in 2012 indicated that, in the context of 2020 targets, 3,600 permanent jobs could be created in the bioenergy sector with 8,300 work years available during construction and installation of biomass facilities. The Government recognises the enterprise potential of the sector and additional policies brought forward in the context of the draft bioenergy plan, published in October 2014, will facilitate further employment in the sector.
The Economic Study for Ocean Energy Development in Ireland published by SEAI and Invest Northern Ireland in 2010 identifies the potential of the ocean sector for job and wealth creation. It found that an island of Ireland wave industry could produce 17,000 to 52,000 jobs and an NPV (net present value) of between €4 billion to €10 billion by 2030. Given the current state of readiness of the technology, these projections are unlikely to be achieved in the time-scale envisaged in the report, but they remain valid over a longer time frame.
