Vol. 550 No. 4
184 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if, in view of the proposal to develop the wind farm at Arklow, County Wicklow, she will ensure the extension of the national grid out to the Arklow Bank; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8334/02]
I have pursued a policy of promotion of the generation of electricity from renewable energy technologies. This policy is grounded on issues of security of energy supply, fuel import substitution and reduction of emissions from fossil fuel electricity generation. To date, these efforts have been focused on developing the renewable energy industry onshore. In that respect progress has been very satisfactory and we are well on the way to achieving the challenging target of 500MW by 2005, which I set in the Green Paper on Sustainable Energy published in September 1999. Currently there are 125MW of renewable energy projects up and running. I recently announced the winning bids in the fifth alternative energy requirement competition under which contracts for 363MW of renewable energy are being awarded.
