Vol. 554 No. 5
104 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the number of megawatts of wind energy installed over the ten years to the end of 2001; the number installed to date; the target up to 2005; his views on the prospect of achieving this target in view of the poor success rates of AER rounds to date; and his proposals to ensure a higher success rate henceforth. [16834/02]
125 Mr. Coveney asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in energy supply and generation using alternative renewable sources. [17010/02]
I propose to answer Questions Nos. 104 and 125 together.
Globally, renewable energy technologies, including wind, require special support in the short to medium term to ensure significant increased development. In Ireland the current support mechanism is the AER programme – alternative energy requirement. Under this programme projects which are successful in a competitive bidding process are entitled to enter into power purchase agreements, PPAs, with the ESB. The agreements require the ESB to purchase the output from the projects declared successful in AER competitions for up to 15 years at the prices volunteered by the developers.
The guaranteed revenue streams reassure credit institutions who will in turn provide debt financing if all other consents are secured, for example, planning permission, an authorisation from AER, confirmed connection. In addition, renewable energy projects which are successful under EU research programmes are also granted PPAs to ensure the viability of the projects. The target for the period 2000 to 2005 is to add 500 MW new renewable energy based electricity generating capacity to the electricity network. My predecessor announced earlier this year the award in principle of power purchase agreements for approximately 350 MW of new wind based electricity generation. The vast majority of these plants are expected to be built in 2003 or 2004.
In a change from previous AER competitions, following a recommendation of the renewable energy strategy group, applications in this competition, AER V, were confined to projects with planning consent and the cap on project size which had applied previously was withdrawn. I am, therefore, confident that the build rate among successful applications in AER V will far exceed anything achieved previously. I will announce a further AER round later this year to ensure the overall 500 MW target is delivered. This competition will be conducted in accordance with EU procurement rules and it would be inappropriate of me to comment further in any detail until the prescribed notice is published in the Official Journal.
