IRELAND:A significant milestone on the road to building a sustainable energy future for Ireland has been reached this week with over 1,000mw (megawatts) of renewable electricity generating capacity now connected to the national grid.
Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey hailed the development, saying Ireland was now well on target towards having 15 per cent of the electricity we consume coming from renewable sources by 2010.
Noting that renewable generating capacity had doubled in two years, he said he was "confident and more determined than ever that we can reach the 30 per cent renewable target contained in the Government's Green Paper on energy".
The Minister's comments were disputed by Labour Party energy spokesman Tommy Broughan, who said the Government had performed "abysmally" on renewable energy, which currently meets just over 4 per cent of the State's primary energy needs.
The renewable sources now on line consists of 740mw of wind power, 236mw of hydro and over 35mw of biomass capacity.