Vol. 507 No. 2
6 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the position on the development of wind farms and wave to energy facilities; the comparative costs between these sources of energy and the generation of electricity by coal, oil and gas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16563/99]
Currently there are ten wind farms in commercial operation with an installed capacity of 63 MWe selling electricity to the Electricity Supply Board. A further 20 wind energy projects have been selected to receive contracts from the ESB, subject to certain conditions.
The third alternative energy requirement competition, AER III, invited applications to develop a wave energy to electricity plant. The information notes advised that European Regional Development Fund grant aid of about £1 million, 1.24 million ECU might be available. The application which was declared successful assumed payment of the grant aid in its costings.
In the event, the monitoring committee of the economic infrastructure operational programme, which includes the European Commission, decided not to grant aid the project and this decision was conveyed to the winning applicant.
Notwithstanding the withdrawal of grant aid, I offered to nominate the project to receive an offer of a power purchase agreement. The winning applicant has not yet informed my Department whether the project will proceed.
Proposals to further promote renewable energy technologies, including wind and marine power, will be outlined in the "Green Paper on Sustainable Energy" which I will publish shortly.
Detailed cost data on the various technologies is not readily available. The ESB regards such data as commercially sensitive, particularly with the emergence of competition in the electricity market. Information in a recent consultant's report suggests approximate information on the cost of electricity from different sources as follows: coal 2p per kilowatt hour, kWh, combined cycle gas 2p per kWh, oil 3p per kWh and wind 4p per kWh. I am aware that the cost of wind is trending downwards. I do not have reliable information about the production cost of wave energy beyond saying it is more expensive than currently operating wind farms.
I note the continuing reluctance of the ESB to supply information. Would the Minister agree that the more information is available, the better we in this House will be able to decide the form of energy to which we ought to give greater emphasis? Will he accept that competitors invariably know these details anyway?
Does the Minister agree that the wind energy aspect is proceeding much more slowly than many of us would have hoped? On the other hand the wind energy technology is developing quickly, the average weight of wind turbines has halved in five years, the average energy output per turbine has increased fourfold and moreover, costs have decreased by a factor of ten in ten years. The Minister seemed to be alluding to that when he said it cost 4p per KWh.
What is the position on North-South co-operation on wave energy and wind energy? As far as I am aware, proposals were being funded under INTERREG II. What have the feasibility studies indicated?
With regard to the costings, I suppose it is understandable in the age of competition that a company would be slow to come forward with its commercial secrets. In that context, the data which I provided to the Deputy is based on a number of assumptions and that is the best I can do for him. It is pretty accurate.
I would not agree that there is slow progress being made in the area of wind energy. From a very low base, wind energy has actually forged ahead.
There is a departmental strategy, which was put in place when Deputy Stagg was Minister of State, to generate energy from renewable sources up to 2010. The strategy aimed to increase the percentage of renewable energy sources to 10 per cent by the end of 1999 and 14 per cent by 2010. In the forthcoming Green Paper which will plan the strategy for the next ten or 15 years, I propose to substantially increase those targets.
Other measures have been put in place also, such as the fiscal measures announced by the Minister for Finance last year and particularly the Green Paper, on which I am depending, to explore the various options available to ensure that we meet the substantially increased targets for renewable energy sources in the coming years.
With regard to the Deputy's question on North-South co-operation, there is a good deal of co-operation. On off-shore wind energy, there is an assessment study in process at present. Kirk McClure Morton, Consultant Engineers, Belfast, were commissioned by—
The time for Priority Questions has concluded. We must proceed to Ordinary Questions.
Are you sure the 30 minutes is up since we started?
The six minutes for each question is up.
That is 30 minutes. The 30 minutes is not up.
There is six minutes for each question. There is not a provision in Standing Orders to borrow time from one question and give it to another. The six minutes had expired. Stricter limits apply to Ordinary Questions in so far as there are two minutes for the Minister's initial reply and then a remaining four minutes. However, in that four minutes a Member, including the Minister, may not exceed one minute in a supplementary question or reply.
The Whips did a good job on that.
That is a matter of opinion.
