I propose to take Questions Nos. 262 and 263 together.
The EU Renewable Energy Directive set Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy demand from renewable sources by 2020. Ireland is committed to achieving this target through meeting 40% of electricity demand, 12% of heat and 10% of transport from renewable energy sources, with the latter target also being legally binding.
The Government has a range of policy measures and schemes to incentivise the use of renewable energy and while good progress towards the target has been made to date, meeting the 16% target remains challenging. The Renewable Energy Feed-in-Tariff schemes support the development of a range of renewable electricity technologies including hydro, biomass combustion, biomass combined heat and power, landfill gas and onshore wind. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has estimated that at end 2015 (latest date for which figures are available) 25.3% of electricity was generated by renewable sources (see the following table).
Sector
|
Expected Renewable Energy Share (RES) in 2020
|
Renewable Energy Share achieved at end 2015
|
Electricity (RES-E)
|
40%
|
25.3%
|
Heat (RES-H)
|
12%
|
6.5%
|
Transport (RES-T)
|
10%
|
5.7%
|
Overall
|
16%
|
9.1%
|
The clear focus is on implementing the range of actions set out in the White Paper and Programme for Government that are aimed at meeting our energy and climate change targets. The Deputy will note that for 2017, I have secured over €100 million in Exchequer support for energy measures, which will permit continuation and expansion of support for energy efficiency schemes, and also support innovative trials and pilots to determine how we can encourage more households and enterprises to engage in deep energy efficiency measures. I will also be bringing forward a new Renewable Electricity Support scheme in 2017 and a Renewable Heat Incentive which will be designed to ensure that it is complementary to both energy efficiency and renewable heat objectives.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), has estimated that the cost to Ireland of not meeting our overall renewable energy targets may be in the range of €100 million to €150 million for each percentage point Ireland falls short of the overall 16% renewable energy target.