Ladies and Gentlemen,
If Deputy Johnny Brady and myself stood here, in Kells, ten years ago and informed you that, today, I would be officially launching a green energy efficiency company, you would not have believed us.
And if you really thought about it, you would never have associated Fianna Fail with introducing comprehensive green policies and initiatives that are now embraced by residents and businesses throughout the country.
Nor would you have believed that we would be launching a local company that is pioneering energy efficiency systems to help Irish industry meet EU standards.
So I am very proud to be here, as a Minister responsible for sustainable and greener energy, to officially open Imperative Energy showrooms in Kells.
This is an exciting new venture and a positive and bold step, which I have no doubt we will see being replicated right across the country.
For the first time, we are seeing the emergence of highly visible, state-of-the-art energy services offering householders, businesses and community groups a real opportunity to avail of cheaper, cleaner energy and to play their part in creating a better environment for all.
Clearly there is a fundamental shift in public attitudes. Irish people have strongly embraced the renewable energy imperative, this Government has been promoting and are keen to play their part in creating a cleaner environment.
The Government is supporting this enthusiasm through a range of practical initiatives designed to make renewable technologies cheaper and more accessible.
Two years ago I introduced a €65m package of financial supports to encourage the commercial and domestic sector to switch to renewable energy.
Such has been the demand for these grants, I arranged to increase funding by a further €24 million.
The Greener Homes programme has been, by far, the most popular grant aid package we have launched to date. It provides, for the first time ever in Ireland, a renewable energy support programme for individual householders.
The five year programme - which now has funding of €47m - has been a resounding success. Almost 13,000 applications for grant aid have been received since I launched the programme last March.
Almost 1,000 of these applications are from residents in Meath and Cavan. This is a clear indication of a strong local commitment to embrace the challenge of switching to more environmentally and economically sustainable energy.
Imperative Energy is providing a wide range of quality installations to meet this demand.
I am very happy to see that this company is demonstrating that clean energy can be provided from a multitude of technologies, each designed to suit individual circumstances.
This degree of consumer choice allows householders to choose the technology that best suits their home, their lifestyle and their pockets.
Imperative Energy has also identified a niche market in providing energy services to customers in the commercial sector.
I think Imperative Energy has adopted the right approach for those companies who still adopt the policy of ‘if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it’.
You offer a “whole energy package” for those who don’t want change or hassle. The business buys its energy product from Imperative Energy, which carries all the responsibility – and risks – associated with installing and maintaining the machinery and ensuring constant fuel supplies.
This “Energy Service Company” model – or “ESCO” - is a relatively new concept in Ireland and one which is ideally suited to new energy technologies.
It is also very useful at a time where companies need to stringently manage and contain energy costs.
Imperative Energy’s majority shareholder Green Belt is Ireland’s largest private forestry company.
This undoubtedly assists Imperative Energy in providing an efficient and effective energy service and fuel supply chain for its customers.
With Joe O’Carroll at the helm you have an added bonus, as Joe has vast experience of the wood energy sector through his work as Operational Manager with COFORD, the Government’s forestry research agency.
Joe has been a seasoned campaigner for the development of a new wood energy market in Ireland and I believe that his experience and drive will be a significant asset in this new venture.
I am very happy with the Bioheat programme, which I launched in 2005. It is a €22m five- year funding package that provides grants of up to 30% for the installation of wood chip and wood pellet boilers in commercial businesses.
In Budget 2007, I secured a further €4m for this programme, so that it can be expanded to allow other technologies such as solar energy to be included.
And I intend to allow community and voluntary groups to apply.
Over 56 applications have been received to date across the agriculture, tourism and manufacturing sectors in particular.
And I expect that a range of innovative new projects will emerge when the revised scheme is launched later this year, including a programme to install biomass boilers in a number of schools across the country.
I see that Imperative Energy is also taking the initiative in this area and has established a heat supply contract with a school in Donegal, which will shortly feature on RTE’s EcoEye programme.
There is significant interest in the €11m commercial grants programme for the installation of combined heat and power systems and my Department is looking for proposals for biomass-fed CHP.
This Government is encouraging consumers to think about energy usage. And our major energy efficiency programme ‘The Power of 1’ has been very successful.
It continues to educate and empower consumers, both domestic and commercial, about the benefits of increased energy efficiency and the benefits of reducing energy consumption during peak times.
The “Greener Homes”, the Bioheat and CHP programmes ensure a more sustainable future, by reducing energy demand and encouraging a switch to cleaner and more diverse energy supplies.
All of these initiatives are major steps in developing public awareness and building market confidence in the renewable energy sector.
Imperative Energy, here in Kells, is testament to the success of these initiatives.
Never before in Ireland, has renewable energy been so accessible to the general public and I believe that this sector will go from strength to strength over the coming years.
I am currently working on a range of new policies and actions to develop sustainable energy practices and technologies across the economy.
I will be setting new targets and policies for renewable energy in the White Paper on Energy which will be published shortly.
I will also be establishing a comprehensive plan for the development of Ireland’s bio-energy sector.
Last Monday, I signalled my intention to introduce a Biofuels Obligation by 2009. This will require all fuel suppliers ensure that biofuels represent a certain percentage of their annual fuel sales.
All of this is tangible evidence that Fianna Fail thinks green – green because we are committed to the Republic of Ireland, green because my local colleagues and I are committed to the green and gold of Meath and green because we don’t talk about a greener and energy efficient country, we actually do something about it.
I congratulate Imperative Energy for their foresight and ambition in entering into this emerging market and wish all of you working in the company every success with the venture.
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