Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (REFIT) operates by guaranteeing minimum prices for electricity output from various categories of renewable technology over a 15 year period and is funded through the Public Service Obligation levy.

Under Directive 2009/28/EC (the Renewable Energy Directive), Ireland has been set a legally binding target for renewable energy as a share of consumption by 2020. That target is 16% overall which, as set out in the National Renewable Energy Action Plan, will be met from around 40% in the electricity sector, 12% in the heat sector and 10% in the transport sector.

Articles 6-11 of Directive 2009/28/EC provide for cooperation mechanisms under the Directive, whereby the renewable value of generation in one Member State may be accounted for in another Member State, providing there is a Government-to-Government agreement in place. Without such an agreement, the renewable value of generation produced is retained in the country of origin.

The reason for this approach at a European level was that it was decided that if Member States are to have the responsibility of binding renewable energy targets, they must have the ability to ensure that renewable value produced on their territory is not traded away without their control.

Once the East West Interconnector to the UK is in place, next year, wholesale electricity will be traded between the two markets. Under the Renewable Energy Directive, the renewable value of generation produced in Ireland and supported through REFIT will continue to count towards Ireland's renewable energy target. The renewable value of such generation will not be traded unless and until there is a specific Governmental agreement in place, backed up by any necessary underpinning legislation and addressing any relevant issues inherent in the operation of two different support schemes in the respective Member States.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (REFIT) operates by guaranteeing minimum prices for electricity output from various categories of renewable technology over a 15 year period and is funded from the Public Service Obligation levy.

Electricity that is eligible for REFIT payments is exported metered generation as set out in Statutory Instrument 532 of 2010 and defined in section 4.2 of the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) Decision Paper 08/236, 'Calculation of the R-factor in determining the Public Service Obligation Levy'. REFIT is only payable for exported metered generation.

There are no REFIT payments made in respect of curtailed generation.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The Alternative Energy Requirement (AER) was a series of 6 competitive tender schemes to support new renewable generation that were run from the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s. AER was subsequently replaced by the feed in tariff scheme known as REFIT.

At the time that State Aid clearance was being sought from the European Commission for REFIT 1 in 2007, DG Competition inserted a clause in the terms and conditions of the scheme that generators were free to leave the scheme either by agreement with their supply company or in the event of disagreement, by serving 12 months notice and join the open market. Any generator that voluntarily leaves a support scheme in respect of a particular project will not be eligible to re-enter the support scheme at any later date in respect of that project.

It was also concluded by my Department that the concerns expressed by the European Commission about a continuing intervention in the market to deliver a public policy for any period longer than the participating generator requires in REFIT should also be applied on a similar basis to the AER programme.

As a result, my Department informed ESB Customer Supply (as the sole contracting party to the AER contracts) that nothing in the AER rules should be interpreted to preclude an undertaking from exiting an AER Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) subject to adequate protection being provided to ESB Customer Supply and that ESB should terminate its AER PPAs with any AER Generator who requests such termination as soon as is reasonably practicable after the AER Generator notifies to ESB Customer Supply its intention to exit the AER programme; or, where ESB is the Intermediary of the relevant AER Generator under the Trading and Settlement Code, on the expiry of the minimum period prescribed under the Code in respect of revocation by the AER Generator of ESB's authority to act in that capacity; or within a period not exceeding 12 months from the receipt of notification from an AER generator of its decision to terminate an AER PPA, whichever event occurs first.

Accordingly, under these provisions, an AER VI contracted renewable generators are allowed to leave their 15 year PPA contracts at any time subject to notification periods not exceeding 12 months.