Photovoltaic electricity
policy in Ireland
General
The
largest share of renewable electricity in Ireland is from hydropower
and wind power. Ireland's target for renewable generation is to supply
15% of electricity demand by 2010 with major contribution expected from
wind energy, as further large scale hydro development in Ireland is
unlikely.
The
Renewable Energy Division of the Department of Communications, Energy
and Natural Resources is responsible for implementing measures to
increase the penetration of renewable energy technologies in
electricity production in Ireland. Ireland launched its programme to
promote electricity from renewable energy sources in 1996 in "Renewable
Energy - A Strategy for the Future". Policy on renewables was reviewed
in 1999 with the publication of a Green Paper on Sustainable Energy. In
December 2003 a further review of the sector was launched with the
publication of the consultation document “Options for Future Renewable
Energy Policy, Targets and Programmes”. This was followed in May 2004
with the setting up of the Renewable Energy Development Group, which
has been considering the 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
development of Ireland's renewable energy resources in electricity
generation this has been achieved primarily through the administration
of competitions under the Alternative Energy Requirement (AER)
Programme. The six competitions held to date have been conducted under
a competitive tendering process.
On 1st May 2006 the
publication of the next market support mechanism for renewables was
announced, to be known as the Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff (REFIT).
In September 2009 additional categories were added to the list of
eligible technologies, which at the time of writing (January 2010)
is still not definitive as the schem is subject to state aids
clearance which has yet to be obtained from the European Commission .
The planned Terms of Conditions of the following REFIT II - Additional
Categories (September 2009) relate to support for the construction of
biomass/anaerobic digestion CHP, ocean energy (wave and tidal)
and offshore wind.
According
to the Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources
the target for the share of energy from renewable sources in gross
final consumption of energy in the year 2020 for Ireland is 16% (in the
year 2005 the share was 3.1%). The Directive has a mandatory 10 %
target for transport to be achieved by all Member States, which refers
to renewable sources as a whole, not biofuels alone.
Renewable energy projections according to the National Renewable Energy Action Plan for Ireland
The
National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) for Ireland was submitted
in July 2010. The target according to Annex I of Directive 2009/28/EC
is 16% for the year 2020 and the projected NREAP share in that year
exactly matches the target. According to the projection, the most
important contribution in the year 2020 is expected from wind power
(12.0 TWh or 1029 ktoe, 45% of all renewable energy). Second important
contribution is expected from biomass (renewable heating and cooling)
(486 ktoe, 21% of all renewable energy). The third largest contribution
is from biodiesel (renewable transport) (342 ktoe, 15% of all renewable
energy). Wind power contributes with 4.6 GW (12.0 TWh) in the year 2020
(onshore wind 4.1 GW and 10.2 TWh, offshore wind 0.6 GW and 1.7 TWh).
For solar photovoltaic the 2020 contribution is projected to be 0.0 GW
(0.0 TWh). For solar thermal the 2020 contribution is projected to be
20 ktoe. The two most important biofuels are projected to contribute
342 ktoe (biodiesel) and 139 ktoe (bioethanol / bio-ETBE) by 2020. The
renewable electricity production from solid biomass amounts to 0.7 TWh
(59 ktoe) and for biogas it is expected to be 0.3 TWh (27 ktoe). The
consumption of renewable heat is expected to amount to 453 ktoe for
solid biomass and 33 ktoe for biogas.
Renewable electricity:
Photovoltaics (PV)
The above-mentioned REFIT does not apply to PV, neither applies the
Greener Homes Schemes.
On
February 2009 the government announced measures to encourage the
on-site generation of electricity in homes and farms across Ireland.
Among the measures is a guaranteed price of 19 cent per kilowatt hour
of electricity produced. This competitive feed-in tariff will apply to
the first 4,000 micro-generation installations countrywide over the
next three years. Eligible installations include small scale wind,
photovoltaic, hydro and combined heat and power. Local generators will have the ability to be
paid for electricity that is surplus to their own requirements and
export it back to the national grid.
The
Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) is a tax incentive which aims to
encourage companies to invest in energy saving and renewable energy
technology. The ACA allows companies to write off 100% of the
purchase value of qualifying energy equipment against their profit in
the year of purchase. Technologies covered include wind turbine
>5kW, solar PV and CHP. Biomass boilers are to be added in 2010. It
is intended that the ACA product lists and criteria (subject to EU
approval) will in future be used as a basis for mandatory public
procurement standards.
Future programme changes
expected
No information available.
Sources
Renewable energy factsheet Ireland,
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/energy_policy/facts_en.htm (sourced January 2008)
Press
release Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources
(DCMNR), Minis-ter Ryan launches new price support for offshore wind,
Dublin, 8th February 2008
Greener Homes Schemes, Sustainable Energy Ireland,
http://www.sei.ie/index.asp?locID=1305&docID=-1 (sourced
September 2008)
Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: http://www.dcenr.gov.ie, February 2009
Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable
sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC
and 2003/30/EC (Entry into force on June 25th, 2009), download from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32009L0028:EN:NOT
Renewable energy policy; country profiles (Re-Shaping). Based on information available in October 2009, http://www.reshaping-res-policy.eu, 2009
The National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) are all published on the Transparency Platform on Renewable Energy: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/transparency_platform/action_plan_en.htm (sourced July - December 2010)
Renewable Energy Projections as Published in the National Renewable Energy Action Plans of the European Member States, http://www.ecn.nl/nreap (sourced December 2010)
Interactive EurObserv’ER Database
http://www.eurobserv-er.org
Last update: March 2011
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Database, http://www.eurobserv-er.org (date of last update)'
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