'Ambition' of renewable targets questioned

Ireland will have to follow through on the implementation of its renewable energy targets, which are achievable and could even be more ambitious, according to EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

After he met Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey yesterday for a briefing on the Government's energy White Paper, Mr Piebalgs said "the target is achievable but the question might be is it ambitious enough".

The White Paper launched by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Mr Dempsey envisages one-third of the Republic's electricity generation coming from renewable sources by 2020.

Although Mr Piebalgs said he welcomed the Government's strategy, Ireland faced a huge challenge from climate change and "renewable energy is not an option, it is a must".

He said decoupling of economic growth from increased greenhouse gas emissions "could be strengthened". Ireland had "everything" in terms of wind and wave resources and even solar energy could be produced here with the use of new photo-voltaic cells, he predicted.

However even without the need to reduce the State's greenhouse gas emissions, Ireland should be investing now in renewable energy because of the need to reduce dependence on imported energy. Money spent on petrol and imported fuels "never comes back" whereas money spent on the renewable energy sector will "give jobs".

He said the greatest challenge for Ireland was its transport sector and he believed the production of biomass and biofuels could be much more advanced. "Ireland is one of the countries which is the richest in resources" for renewable energy, he said.

While in Dublin, Mr Piebalgs also addressed the energy and climate groups of the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin, where he repeated warnings of greenhouse gas emissions and EU dependence on imported fuels.

"Today we import about 50 per cent of our energy. By 2030, if we do not act, it will be 65 per cent, with much of the increase being made up of oil and gas.

"Another serious challenge is climate change. On present trends, the world's output of CO2 will increase by 55 per cent by 2030. The EU emissions are set to increase by 5 per cent during this period."

He also warned that the current direction of Europe's energy policy would fail to contribute to Europe's competitiveness.

Although the EU was unlikely to be able to do much about labour costs, "we cannot let our overall cost of capital increase".

He said the EU must take global leadership in catalysing a new industrial revolution and accelerating the change to low carbon growth.