elphin local area plan 2009 - 2015 - Roscommon County Council

Chapter 4: Infrastructure and Services
• To Ensure Security of Energy Supply:
There is a need to have reliable access to oil and gas supplies and the infrastructure to import, distribute
and store these supplies. There is also a need for robust networks and the electricity generating capacity to
ensure consistent supply.
• To Promote the Sustainability of Energy Supply and Use:
A sustainable energy future for Ireland is being met through a range of strategies, targets and actions to
deliver environmentally sustainable energy supply and use.
• To Enhance the Competitiveness of Energy Supply:
A key Government policy objective is to ensure a reliable and competitively priced energy supply and
competition in energy markets, in support of economic growth and national competitiveness. Structural
change in the energy market enables competition and also delivers consumer choice. The Government
intends to create a new impetus for choice and innovation in a lighter regulated environment and
delivering a responsive and stable energy market.
• To create an Integrated Approach to Delivery:
The Government will ensure a fully integrated and cohesive approach to energy policy priorities,
supported by comprehensive and regular stakeholder engagement, and backed up by full accountability for
performance and delivery
The National Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012 builds on the Government’s commitment to
sustainable development as outlined in “Towards 2016” and NDP 2007-2013. It is one of a number of
inter-related Government initiatives that will address energy and climate change issues.
In relation to energy, the Strategy supports the aim that 15% of electricity shall be generated from
renewable sources by 2010 and 33% by 2020. Biomass shall contribute up to 30% of energy input at peat
stations by 2015. The Strategy also provides support for Combined Heat and Power projects and towards a
National Ocean Energy Strategy.
4.6.2 Physical Context
1. Renewable Energy
The development of renewable energy offers sustainable alternatives to our dependency on fossil fuels, a
means of reducing harmful greenhouse emissions and opportunities to reduce our reliance on imported
fuels. Renewable energy comes from natural resources that are continuously replenished by nature. The
main sources of renewable energy are the wind, the sun (solar), water (hydropower, wave and tidal
energy); heat below the surface of the earth (geothermal energy) and biomass (wood, biodegradable waste
and energy crops or bio-fuels such as rapeseed and lupines).
Wind Energy & Wind-farms
The Green Paper on sustainable energy advocates a doubling of the national renewal energy output by
2010. The principle renewal resource accessible to technology at the present time is wind energy. The
RCDP 2008-2014 provides a strong policy base to encourage the development of renewable energy, with
guidance on how proposed developments will be assessed.
Elphin Local Area Plan 2009-2015 Page 32