Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 June 2010
307 Deputy Enda Kenny asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the terms of reference that were granted to the representatives who attended meetings (details supplied) on behalf of his Department in respect of the renewable energy technology categories that Ireland supported for inclusion in the decision taken at the meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24667/10]
Amharc ar fhreagra308 Deputy Enda Kenny asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the details of representations made to him or his Department about the European Commission’s NER300 draft decision in February 2010 in respect of Ireland’s support for renewable energy; the persons who submitted the representations; if any such representations were added to or altered in the European Commission’s NER300 draft decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24668/10]
Amharc ar fhreagra311 Deputy Enda Kenny asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the processes he intends to put in place to select and process applications for projects in respect of the European Union NER300 fund; the State agencies that will be involved in providing support and assistance to those wishing to apply for NER300 funding; the State agencies that have projects that may qualify for NER300 funding and under which NER300 project categories, and sub categories they might qualify; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24671/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos 307, 308 and 311 together.
Article 10(a)8 of the revised Emissions Trading Directive 2009/29/EC contains provision for earmarking up to 300 million ETS allowances in the New Entrants Reserve for subsidising demonstration projects in CCS and innovative renewable energy technologies. The value of funds to be committed is predicated on the actual price of carbon when the funds are committed. A carbon price of €15 per tonne would value the fund at €4.5 billion. The definition of eligible technology sub-categories was finalised by the Climate Change Committee of DG Environment with the involvement of Member States, including Ireland at a meeting in February 2010. The NER300 proposal has not yet been fully signed off on and is currently still at scrutiny stage with the European parliament.
While the technology subcategories were being finalised, potential developers in two technology areas, one in the pumped storage technology area and another in the concentrated solar panel technology area brought the relative merits of their respective technologies to the attention of the Department. The Department did not propose any amendments to the subcategories under discussion at the Management Committee meeting following these representations. The meeting in question was attended by an official of the Department who is serving as Energy Attaché in the Permanent Representation in Brussels. The official consulted with the Department in advance of the meeting. I am satisfied that the technologies provided for under the programme can accommodate innovative renewable energy technologies subject to suitable projects emerging for assessment as set out below.
There will be a single, Europe-wide call for proposals by the Commission. The Commission is currently working on the terms and conditions for this call for proposals and they have signalled to Member States that they hope to issue the call in quarter three 2010. Proposals will be sent to the individual Member States for national evaluation and short listing, before any short-listed projects are assessed by the European Investment Bank using its existing standard evaluation methods. In order to carry out the short listing, Member States will be issued with an assessment methodology by the Commission. This methodology has not yet been issued. The assessment will be made by a committee of officials from my Department and Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. Subject to eligible proposals emerging, each Member State is guaranteed a minimum of one and a maximum of three demonstration projects across all sub-categories. The indicative Commission timetable is as follows:
Quarter 3 2010 — publication of call in the Official Journal;
November/December 2010 — national evaluation process;
December 2010 — submission of recommended projects to EIB;
End 2011 — Final decision by European Investment Bank.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland will provide information on the scheme, once it is available from the Commission, to any interested parties. It is a matter for any individual State Agencies and other entities both public and private to determine whether they wish to apply for support under the NER300 scheme.
309 Deputy Enda Kenny asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact local and regional authorities are conducting reviews of their development plans, including renewable energy strategies; if he will direct the State bodies under his aegis to publish all wind data in their possession or those involved in wind assessment projects, including the precise location of anemometers, the height above ground of measurement equipment and all wind data gathered or calculated, to enable local authorities and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland to make accurate assessments of the economic characteristics of wind resources; if such assessments will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24669/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraContracts and agreements entered into by State bodies under the aegis of my Department in pursuit of their commercial mandates are day to day matters for the bodies concerned. I have no function in relation to this matter. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland already have very significant information available on the wind resource in Ireland and have published on their website a national Wind Atlas which shows the onshore and offshore wind resource in great detail on a county by county basis. The Wind Atlas for Ireland displays wind speed maps for the entire country, and for each county, plus information about the location of the electricity network at both national and county levels. The Wind Atlas displays wind speeds at 50, 75 and 100 metres above ground level, tiled over Ordinance Survey Ireland (OSI) maps. Wind speeds can be accurately measured at any location in the country, but the three levels referred to in the previous paragraph represent the hub-heights of current and future wind turbine technology. Offshore, wind speeds have been mapped to a distance of 25 kilometres from the Irish coast and these are available at www.seai.ie. The wind resource displayed here has been constrained to exclude areas where wind energy projects will not be permitted such as areas where seabed cables and gas pipelines are located, indicative navigation channels, marine traffic separation / exclusion zones, Department of Defence Danger Areas and near-shore anchorages.
310 Deputy Enda Kenny asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will direct State agencies and companies within his aegis that are involved in energy projects, such as wind farms, to fully disclose any contracts and agreements with other State owned organisations in respect of their projects to the communities in which these projects are sited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24670/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraContracts and agreements entered into by State bodies under the aegis of my Department in pursuit of their commercial mandates are day to day matters for the bodies concerned. I have no function in relation in this regard.
