Renewable energy sector gives guarded welcome

The decision to more than double the State's take-up of renewable energy was given only a guarded welcome by the industry yesterday. The main difficulty with the scheme appears to be that the additional 400 to 500 megawatts which will be acquired does not go far enough.

Industry sources said generators were prepared to install about 2,000 megawatts of renewable energy, and were "queuing up to enter the national grid".

The industry was also disappointed that the fixed price to be paid for renewable energy does not pay any "bonus" based on the savings to the State in greenhouse gas emissions.

Larry Staudt, director of the Centre for Renewable Energy at Dundalk Institute of Technology, said yesterday's announcement was long overdue. He noted the plan to increase renewable energy by an initial 400 megawatts per year was only about the same output as one gas-fired generating plant. "We could do a lot better," he said.

Mr Staudt also said the best available "new entrant" price for generating electricity by wind was about 5.7 cent a kilowatt hour, while a similar price for gas-generated electricity was 6.8 cent a kilowatt hour. "This means it is now cheaper to produce electricity from renewables than fossil fuel like gas."

Using gas would also incur costs to the State in greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, gas and oil prices would rise due to fears about supply "but we would always have the wind", he said.

Mr Staudt said a significant opportunity to pay generators of renewable electricity a "bonus" for the reduction in greenhouse gases had been missed.

Quentin Gargan of ecologics, an Irish company providing "affordable energy solutions for sustainable living", said the scheme, known as a Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (Refit) scheme, provides a guaranteed price to wind farms for their electricity.

However he said "the catch was in the indexation - set at one quarter of the rate of inflation for the next 15 years".

He added: "Do you know a landlord who would invest in a building knowing that rent increases are capped at one quarter of the consumer price index?"

Green Party TD Eamon Ryan was also critical, pointing out that two or three gas-fired plants were due to be approved over the coming years. He believed this capacity could be easily replaced by renewable energy.