Vol. 545 No. 1
119 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if her attention has been drawn to the slow rate at which wind farms are being developed here; the way in which this compares with the situation in Holland, Denmark and Britain; and the percentage of electricity being generated by wind power. [28949/01]
There are currently 22 wind farms in commercial operation in the country with a total installed capacity of 125 megawatts. The electricity generated from wind energy represents just under 1% of electricity consumption. This equates to the needs of approximately 70,000 homes and the displacement of about 280,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. I have set a target to support the construction, by 2005, of an additional 500 megawatts of renewable energy based electricity generating capacity. The greater part of this target will be delivered by the wind energy sector. In May this year I launched the fifth competition in the AER series. The capacity on offer at 255 MW is the largest single offering to the market ever. The balance of the target, 245 megawatts, will be offered to the market as soon as is practicable to ensure the overall target is achieved by 2005. National support for wind energy technologies in electricity production commenced in the mid 1990s. Having regard to scale, it is on a par with Britain which has some 60 wind farms operating with an installed capacity of around 415 MW. Countries like Denmark and Holland have a higher percentage of wind generated electricity where such investment commenced in the 1970s.
