I propose to take Questions Nos. 5, 11, 17, 56 and 57 together.
Our Government is fully committed to the promotion of appropriate forms of renewable energy and has requested the ESB, in consultation with our Department, to prepare a competition to contract for supplies of up to an additional 75 MW of installed capacity from alternatives sources by 1997. Details of this competition are in the final stages of preparation and I expect to be able to announce them fairly soon.
I expect the further development of wind energy to be a significant part of this initiative. Such development will be encouraged by the success of the Bellacorick wind project in County Mayo, where 21 turbines with a combined capacity of 6.45 MW were installed in late 1992. This project has exceeded expectations and produced 15.6 million units of electricity in its first year of operation. The location of new projects will, however, be a matter for individual developers. I can also confirm that it is proposed to monitor the performance of the successful projects with a view, inter alia, to developing future strategy in this important area. I believe that it would be premature at this stage to set further targets, pending a detailed review of the results of the forthcoming competition.