Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 May 2017
48. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will clarify Ireland's position in relation to the 2020 renewable energy targets; and his plans to invest substantially in renewable energies in line with the increase in power usage across the national grid, in particular in forms of renewable energy that are not yet properly utilised such as wave and ocean current technology. [21894/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy question relates to Ireland's position on the 2020 renewable energy targets, the plans to invest in renewable energies and where we are in terms of wave and ocean technology.
I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for this question. The 2009 EU renewable energy directive sets Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020. Good progress has been made to date but the target remains challenging, particularly in light of economic growth and a growing demand for energy. Figures provided by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, for 2015 indicate that 9.1% of the overall 16% target has been met by renewable sources.
The Government has adopted a range of policy measures and schemes to incentivise the use of renewable energy. The primary support mechanism in the electricity sector is the Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff, REFIT, scheme, which supports the development of a range of renewable electricity technologies including hydro, biomass combustion, biomass combined heat and power, landfill gas and onshore wind.
Ireland has made considerable progress in the decarbonisation of our electricity sector in recent years, with over 25% of our electricity coming from renewable sources in 2016. This progress, while welcome, will need to accelerate with pace in the coming years.
With regard to future policy initiatives, my Department is developing a proposed new renewable electricity support scheme and renewable heat incentive scheme designed to assist in meeting our renewable energy sources for electricity, RES-E, and renewable energy sources for heat, RES-H, targets. The introduction of any new scheme, including the overall costs and technologies to be supported, will be the subject of Government approval and state aid clearance from the European Commission.
In the transport sector, Ireland aims to meet its renewable target mainly through the increased use of sustainable biofuels, with electric vehicles also making a small contribution. The biofuel obligation scheme was increased from 6% to 8% by volume from 1 January 2017. A public consultation on future increases to the biofuel obligation scheme, required to meet the 2020 renewable transport target, will take place later this year.
Ireland has one of the best offshore renewable energy resources in the world, and offshore renewable energy will have an important role in Ireland’s future renewable energy mix. While offshore wind has globally been developed successfully, wave and tidal energy is still at the research and development stage. Notwithstanding the development of promising experimental devices, much more research, development and trials are required to bring wave energy technology to commercial viability.
The Government's policy on the sustainable development of our indigenous offshore wind, wave and tidal energy resources is set out in the 2014 offshore renewable energy development plan.
The Minister knows from his involvement with the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa, AWEPA, the effect of policies and practices from the developed world on the developing world, its people and their livelihoods, that is, that those least responsible for the effects of climate change are paying the most. I was reading the speech the Minister gave last month on putting the "eco" into the economy. He noted the connection between the two words "ecology" and "economy" and their derivation from the Greek word for "household". He made the point that the EU cannot lead or deliver without the full participation of all the member states, so we need to use less energy and we need to use the energy we are using more efficiently. I know progress is being made but it is disappointing to read that we are one of four member states of Europe not expected to make the 2020 targets. The target is hardly excessive and we know that failure to reach it would be very costly. The Minister has said it will be challenging but does he accept that it can be realised? I again make the plea that offshore renewable energy remain in Irish hands and Irish control.
The Deputy said the target is hardly excessive. The cost-effective target for Ireland, on which the Commission has published information, was 7%. Our target was set at 20%, so it was an excessive target. However, leaving that aside, that was the target that was set and to which the Government signed up at the time and we need to try to get as close as possible to it and plough ahead to make sure we hit our 2030 target. That is my objective.
The Deputy is right that ocean energy has huge potential and we need to invest in it. Nine tenths of the territory of Ireland is under the sea, and our ocean energy development plan states that there is potential to develop up to 4.5 GW in offshore wind and 1.5 GW in wave and tidal energy. There is a huge opportunity in this regard, and to seize it we are supporting the development of a number of prototypes. Last year, the Government, through the SEAI, funded 17 prototypes; this year, we will fund another 16. Some of them are making significant progress in developing technology in this area. Sea Power Limited used the quarter-scale Galway Bay test site between November of last year and March of this year for a sea power platform on wave energy. It seemed to be quite successful. We have seen a number of other companies examining this and it is my intention to support them and, through the strategic infrastructure fund, if required, to fund them.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland's figure on clean renewable energy and what it has saved was very striking. I think it was €1 billion in fossil fuel imports. That is highly significant. It is interesting to hear what the Minister says about offshore wind, hydro and tidal wave energy. We are over-reliant on fossil fuels and we know the cost of that is €4.6 billion annually. It is disappointing to see the increase in emissions. The irony is that as the economy does better, our use of emissions increases. Wind power is so fraught in Ireland yet it works so well in other countries. I think we can learn from the mistakes of the past in this regard. The offshore floating wind turbines will be interesting but, again, I go back to the point that we need to keep it in our control so that it is for the benefit of Ireland and not of a multinational company that will take it over.
Deputy O'Sullivan has hit the nail on the head, particularly regarding onshore wind. We have put far too many eggs in the one basket in respect of onshore wind, and she is right that most of the beneficiaries have been offshore in that regard. The new structures we will put in place in respect of planning guidelines and the renewable electricity support scheme will very much be oriented towards communities and supporting communities themselves regarding renewable technologies.
We are at an early developmental stage regarding offshore energy and are trying to support companies involved in it but it is important to remember that as 88% of all our energy needs are imported at present, we need to drive that down. If we, like Donald Trump, denied the impact of climate change, we would still need to put in the investment because we have renewable energy resources here. We need to capitalise on those and we need to have a sustainable energy source in this country rather than being dependent on imported fossil fuels. That, as energy Minister, must be my objective, not to mention my priority as climate Minister.
