'No big bang solutions' to reliance on fossil fuels: Alex White

By Daniel McConnell Political Editor

Customers will have to pay more in their energy bills as Ireland moves away from fossil fuels in the coming years, Energy Minister Alex White has said.

Speaking at the launch of the Government's new policy paper on energy, Mr White was asked whether moving to renewable sources of energy would cost more for customers.

“There is a cost to transition but our hope would be to minimise that cost. While that cost exists there is also a tremendous opportunity and huge potential here,” said Mr White.

Ireland will use no fossil fuels by the end of the century, according to the new paper.

The paper is high on aspiration and light on detail, but Mr White said the policy builds on the ambition of the Paris Agreement on global climate change which was formally ratified last weekend.

The paper refers the 2020 target of 50,000 vehicles but Mr White accepted that the take-up of electric cars has been “disappointing” so far, at 700 in all.

He accepted there was no chance the target on vehicles would be reached.

He said few countries had met their target and also pointed out to the chilling effect of the recession in this area.

He said the recession was to blame for the lack of resources available to retrofit homes.

There is no date set down for the decommissioning of fossil fuels used in Moneypoint, the coal-burning plant that is the largest power station in the country.

The paper sets out the long-term goals for energy use in Ireland both for domestic homes and businesses.

No 'big bang' solutions

Mr White said Ireland was still dependent on fossil fuels which provide 92% of the energy share for the country at present.

He said by 2050, the share of non-carbon and renewable sources would be between and 80% and 95%.

Ireland would be wholly fossil-free by the end of the century, he said.

The White Paper sets out a wide range of solutions to replacing fossil fuels as our primary sources of energy.

The Minister repeated several times that there were “no big bang solutions”, rather a range of measures.

The measures include a substantial expansion of solar power, primarily through solar farms; the increased use of bio-energy (including bio fuel crops), as well as tapping the potential of ocean and tide energy.

There are hundreds of solar farms already in operation in Devon and Cornwall and similar farms could be located in the southern tip of the country, particularly counties Wexford, Waterford and Cork, he said.

The main source of renewables for the foreseeable future will be wind-farms. Addressing the controversy over the location of some wind farms, Mr White said the vast majority of the projects have been established with no opposition from local communities.

Wind energy will still comprise over 80 per cent of renewable energy.

There was no definite view expressed on nuclear power, or on fracking, which has been a very contentious issue.

Mr White said he would await the outcome of an evaluation being conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency before making any decision on extraction by fracturing.

Similarly, on nuclear, he said he would await the outcome of an evaluation, although he expressed doubt if Ireland was large enough to accommodate a nuclear power station.