Political News- Irish Energy Policy central to economic growth

Opportunities for growth in the Irish Energy Market

The Irish National Board for Enterprise and Science Forfas reported that the country has shown strong sector growth in renewable energies, efficient energy use and management, waste management, recovery and recycling, and water and waste water treatment.

Forfas believe that the decisions that are taken today on Irelands Energy policy will influence the prosperity of the country for the next twenty years.

The government is under pressure to create employment and to stop the rise in immigration of the educated migrants who are starting to leave due to the Economic down turn. The simplest move is to refocus the work force from a failing construction industry on the energy sector and it’s supporting sectors.

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A number of priority areas have emerged for investment including;ICT control systems for energy efficiency, Eco-construction, Carbon trading and green technology investment. For these opportunities to be taken improvements are required to the framework conditions of skills, regulation, public procurement and R&D.

In line with the US and the EU the Forfas report points to a dual strategy of investing in Energy as a way to fight the two challenges ff rising unemployment and climate change. However with the public purse at an all time low and leading Irish Economists such as Colm McCarthy calling for cut backs of five billion Euros the government will be hard pressed to find the investment needed.

By accident or by design there are a few positive aspects for the Irish energy sector. The timely delivery of Ireland’s planned energy interconnections (i.e., the north-south tie line and the east-west interconnector) and new generation plants are important to ensure adequate generation capacity and to improve energy cost competitiveness. The unbundling of the transmission network is an important element in attracting new

investment in generation capacity into the Irish market and should be progressed as a matter of priority.

The Forfas report calls for the government to prioritise the work of the Energy Research Strategy group so that it can accelerate and increase the capacity for the Irish Energy market to benefit from existing technology in and outside of Ireland. The government must now respond as to how they intend to fund future research and bring this body forward.

Energy Related Goods and Services

Forfás completed an assessment of the opportunities for Ireland within the Energy Related Goods and Services sector, matching international trends in investment to technological advances and domestic capabilities. In Ireland decisions made on energy policy will provide the operating context for businesses inIreland over the next 20 years.

The report sets out a range of recommendations to enhance the development of the Irish Energy Sector. A key outcome of this work has been the establishment of a High Level Action Group on Green Enterprise with a mandate to report back to Cabinet with an action plan for taking advantage of the opportunities identified by this piece of work. Forfás will provide the secretariat for this High Level Action Group.

http://www.forfas.ie/