Vol. 557 No. 4
121 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his views on the fact that only 13 megawatts of wind energy was added to the electricity network in 2002; and his further views on whether the alternative energy requirement programme to date has not been a great success. [22443/02]
The European Commission has determined that the AER programme as administered under the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 constitutes State aid. A condition of the current State aids clearance is that projects are selected by competitive tendering. I must therefore announce competitions from time to time to award support under the AER programme. The amount of AER supported capacity connecting to the network in 2002 is a measure of the final projects connecting under the AER III competitive round. This is not, however, a measure of market interest or support available.
Since the AER programme was launched in 1995, five AER competitions have supported the development of alternative and renewable energy based electricity generating plant. Three of these competitions included a wind energy category. In all there are 17 windfarms operating under the AER programme. These windfarms produce enough electricity to power some 65,000 homes from approximately 100 MW of generating capacity. The target for the period 2000-05 is to add an additional 500 MW of renewable energy based electricity generating capacity to the electricity network. In the previous AER rounds planning consent was not a precondition and a significant number of projects declared successful in AER subsequently failed to secure planning consent. In the current programme, applications are confined to projects with planning consent. I am confident, therefore, the build rate among successful applications in the current programme will far exceed its predecessor.
The AER programme has provided sufficient confidence to banks to fund projects up to 80% by debt and the number of projects successful in the planning process is growing all the time. Overall, therefore, I am satisfied the AER programme is a successful intervention in the market to ensure that projects which would not otherwise be built are built. Furthermore, I have stated publicly I will engage in a public consultation programme on all issues facing the renewable energy sector. This consultation process will open early next year. I expect to receive submissions on all topical issues including the strengths and weaknesses of the current support system and the merits of alternative support systems. Respondents will find I am open to persuasion on the most appropriate support mechanism going forward.
