Dublin, 13 December 2004
Noel Dempsey T.D., Minister for
Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, today announced
Government support for the construction of an additional 235
MWs of of new green electricity
generating plants.
This announcement follows on from an initial
announcement of results in a competition referred to as AER 6.
The support announced now will assist a further thirty
projects.
Wind energy is the countrys most plentiful renewable
energy source and most of the new capacity will come from
onshore wind projects. In addition the Minister confirmed
offers of contracts to two offshore wind demonstration projects
and three biomass combined heat and power projects. Other
technologies include landfill gas and anaerobic digestion
plants.
The new capacities now confirmed include:
-
Onshore wind energy (over 5
Megawatts) 177.1 MWs
-
Onshore wind energy (under 5
Megawatts) 57 MWs
-
Biomass (landfill gas) 3.273
MWs
-
Biomass Anaerobic Digestion 0.795
MW
Commenting on his announcement the
Minister said The benefits of this announcement are:
- Secure clean eco-friendly indigenous
electricity for 200,000 homes
- A reduction of over 600,000 tonnes of
greenhouse gas emissions,
- Reduced dependency
on imported fossil fuels by more than 1.6 million barrels of
oil every year
- Improved national trade balance by
over €45 million annually by redirecting money
previously spent on importing energy back into the Irish
economy.
- This redistributed money will
facilitate the creation of 140 new long-term jobs in
renewable energy equipment operation and maintenance, and
over 600 fulltime construction jobs over the two year
building phase.
As regards the future of the renewable
energy sector, the Minister added,
The Renewable Energy
Development Group was established on 6th May of this
year. The Group is chaired by my Department and comprises
relevant experts from the administrative, industry and
scientific sector. The Group will advise on future options on
policies, targets, programmes and support measures to develop
the increased use of renewable energy in the electricity market
to 2010 and beyond. The Groups report is due by the end of this
month. Its recommendations will form the basis of a new policy
to further increase the penetration of renewable energy
technologies in the electricity market.
In addition, under the EU Renewables
Directive (2001/77/EC), Ireland must have over 13% of
electricity consumption derived from renewable sources by the
year 2010. This Directive helps to ensure that Ireland is on
its way to meeting its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol
Agreement, which limits Irelands emissions of greenhouse gases
to 13% above 1990 levels. This is of growing importance due to
the imposition of penalties for those countries that do not
adhere to their respective restrictions.
Editors Note
The Alternative Energy Requirement
Programme (AER) operated by the Department
of Communications Marine and Natural resources supports the
building of new renewable energy powered electricity generating
stations. Such technologies include biomass (including landfill
gas), hydropower (small scale) and wind.
These technologies cannot yet compete
with conventional electricity generation in an open competitive
market. Hence the need for special support which can be
justified under EU competition and state aids rules under the
EUs environmental protection guidelines.
The support is access to a power purchase
contract with the ESB CS (assuming the
successful applicants can comply with the conditions of the
contract). The ESB contracts to purchase all the output of the
selected stations at guaranteed prices for up to fifteen years.
This guarantee generates sufficient confidence for investors to
provide finance which would not otherwise be provided. The
projects are then bankable. Only projects accepted by the
Minister are entitled to conclude such contracts.
Successful applicants are those who
comply with the terms and conditions of the competition and who
offer to sell the electricity to the ESB at the lowest price at
or below the cap price previously notified to the market in
each technology in the published terms and conditions of the
competition.
The projects
announced now replace other projects which could not proceed
for a variety of reasons and the new projects following EU
Commission state aids clearance for an additional 140 MWs above
the previous target.
Table of Additional Projects