Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 29 Jan 1992

Vol. 415 No. 1

Written Answers. - Water Pumping Grant Assistance.

Roger T. Garland

Ceist:

55 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for Energy whether he has given any consideration to providing grant assistance to those farms in certain western areas to provide wind-powered water pumping instead of only electric-powered water pumping; whether he has conducted any surveys/studies in this matter; and if he will outline the cost effectiveness of using wind power for such an operation.

Minister for Energy (Mr. Molloy)

In view of the limited Exchequer funding available for the farm electrification grants scheme it is not proposed to extend the scope of the scheme to provide grant-aid for applications other than those which involve the provision of electricity and there are no other funds available to me to provide grants for non-electric water pumping.

As part of my Department's wind power demonstration programme in the 1980's, a small wind turbine was erected in 1981 and operated satisfactorily at the Foras Talúntais Creagh Research Centre in County Mayo to drain some 12 hectares of peatland. While I understand there were some encouraging results from this project set up on an experimental basis it did not cover the matter of comparative cost effectiveness relative to other methods of water pumping.