Groups involved in renewable energy projects have welcomed the Budget's new tax relief measures for wind and biomass schemes, although they raised questions as to whether water-power schemes were included. The Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) expressed "delight" at the Budget provision of tax relief, at a cost of about £5 million a year.
By the millennium, some 10 per cent of Ireland's current installed energy capacity will be based on renewable energy. The Minister for Finance had recognised the importance of the sector by providing tax relief on up to 50 per cent of projects, Ms Inge Buckley, a committee member of the IWEA, said. It was particularly relevant in the week of the UN conference at Kyoto, she said.
Mr Fiacc O Brolchain of the Irish Hydropower Association said it intended to seek clarification from the Minister on whether hydropower was included. "We will be a bit disappointed if we have been excluded, as it appears that we have been," he said.
The new scheme will be subject to an overall cap of £7.5 million per project, and a limit of £10 million a year will apply on the amount which any one company or group of companies can invest in all qualifying projects in a year. The holding period for qualifying equity investments will be a minimum of five years, and the scheme - which requires EU approval - will apply to the end of 1999.