Green power scheme unveiled

The Government is to support a new scheme to promote renewable energy, the Minister for Communications, Marine & Natural Resources said yesterday.

Mr Dermot Ahern said details of the sixth alternative energy requirement (AER) programme would be released within weeks.

The scheme will increase the amount of "green" power acquired at a premium price by the ESB for transmission into the national grid. Because power generated with wind, hydro and biomass plant is not competitive with large-scale production using gas and coal, the State intervenes to guarantee a premium paid to make green energy projects bankable.

The premium is built into electricity prices paid by customers.

The ESB purchases some 364 MW under the existing AER programme, number five, and Mr Ahern said he wanted to bring that to 500 MW by 2005 in a new scheme, to be called AER 6. This would be enough to supply electricity to 500,000 homes, he added.

Mr Ahern said: "I want to emphasise again \ my intention is to see the renewables sector grow and attain its true potential, balanced with the continued affordability of electricity. The plan is to follow the launch of AER 6 with a public consultation process on future targets and the most appropriate support mechanisms to deliver the target."

When the programme is complete, 470 MW of the capacity will be generated by wind, 50 MW of it offshore. The additional 25 MW will be produced from biomass projects, including landfill gas, while some five MW will be generated from small-scale hydro projects.

Mr Ahern said: "At the moment 86 per cent of our current electricity needs are import-dependent and this trend is predicted to grow. We have fortunately the means to generate more power from indigenous sources. "