Airtricity calls for fuel plan

The Government should establish a 20-year energy plan that includes specific targets for the fuel types to be used, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

No single energy source should be allowed to account for more than 40 per cent of the total required, according to a submission by Airtricity, the wind energy company. If current trends continue, gas will come to account for 60 per cent of the Republic's needs.

The Airtrcity submission criticised the Government for allowing energy policy to be dictated in the past by reactive rather than proactive planning.

"It is our belief that 25 per cent of the nation's energy should be supplied by wind by 2015," said Dr Eddie O'Connor, chief executive of Airtricity.

He said that because of climate change and issues relating to the security of the supply of oil and gas, the Republic should adopt a policy of making increased use of renewable energy such as wind. In 2002 the Republic had a 58 per cent reliance on oil and gas, as against an average of 24 per cent in the EU. Its use of renewable energy supplies was 3 per cent.

Dr O'Connor said the Republic had a serious electricity generation problem and the "default" position was more gas-fired generation. By 2025 the nearest source of natural gas would be Russia, according to projections.

The EU target was for 13.2 per cent of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2010. The Government should set a target for 25 per cent plus of energy generation to come from onshore/offshore wind generation, with another 25 per cent or more to come from other renewable sources.

"Without a definite energy policy, Ireland's over-exposure to fossil fuel pricing levels and volatility will be cemented for the next 20 years."

Airtricity, founded in 1997, now has 160 employees, 30,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises as customers, and 228 megawatt generation capacity.