International Context
Ireland participates in a number of international organisations and activities in the area of sustainable energy. These include: the IEA, the EnR, the REEEP, and the Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition. Ireland’s participation in these international fora has provided access to information sources, lessons learned and experiences.
Some of this participation is highlighted in the following sections.
The IEA
Established in 1974, the International Energy Agency (IEA) is the energy forum and think tank for 26 OECD countries. The DCMNR has designated SEAI to be the contracting party to four IEA Renewable Energy Implementing Agreements to which Ireland is a party (Bioenergy, Ocean, Wind and RE technology Deployment (RETD)). SEAI is responsible for providing national delegates to the Executive Committees of the Implementing Agreements and for nominating and supporting country experts to a small number of tasks. It provides representation and oversight through its delegates to the Committee on Energy Research and Technology and the Renewable Energy Working Party. http://www.iea.org/
IEA Wind Energy Implementing Agreement
Ireland rejoined the IEA R&D Wind Agreement in 2002. In doing so, Ireland participates in three annexes within the Agreement: (i) Annex XI (Base Technology Information Exchange) and (ii) the new Annex XXI (Dynamic Models of Wind Farms for Power System Studies), and Task XXV (Design and Operation of Power Systems with Large Amounts of Wind Power).
IEA Bioenergy Implementing Agreement
As a member of the IEA Bioenergy Implementing Agreement, Ireland is currently signed up to participation in two tasks: (i) Socio-economic Drivers in Implementing Bioenergy Projects (Task 29); (ii) and (ii) Commercialising 1st and 2nd Generation Liquid Biofuels from Biomass (Task 39). Ireland has taken ‘Observer’ status for “Biorefineries: Co-production of Fuels, Chemicals, Power and Materials from Biomass (Task 42)” for 2007. A Task 29 meeting will be hosted by the Irish country representative for the task (Tipperary Institute) in the Autumn of 2007.
IEA Ocean Energy Implementing Agreement
The Implementing Agreement on Ocean Energy Systems commenced in October 2001. The Agreement’s aim is to enhance international collaboration to make ocean energy technologies a significant energy option in the mid-term. Current priorities are ocean waves and marine current systems. The two main tasks at the moment are the exchange of information on ocean energy systems and the development of practices for testing and evaluating ocean energy systems.
The EnR
SEAI represents Ireland on the European Energy Network (EnR) since its creation in 1991. EnR is a voluntary association of European organisations that have responsibility for the planning, management or review of national research, development, demonstration or dissemination programmes in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy. EnR’s key areas of activity include international comparison, exchange of information as a means of increasing efficiency, and the formation of a joint platform for lobbying. http://www.enr-network.org/
REEEP
The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency partnership (REEEP) was launched as a UN-Type II partnership at the World Summit on Sustainable Development as a multi-stakeholder initiative, which aims to accelerate the global development of renewable energy and energy efficiency systems. The number of REEEP partners has steadily increased to 195 in August 2006. REEEP receives funding from the governments of Australia, Austria, Germany, EU, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK and US. The major funding continues to be from the UK. The total level of funding for the financial year ending March 2006 was € 6 million.
Ireland is a founding member of the REEEP and is a member of the Finance Committee and the Programme Board. In December 2003, Ireland became a sponsor of the REEEP, with sponsorship facilitated through SEAI. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government recently launched an initiative to support three projects per annum in the least-developed countries in Africa in line with Ireland’s overseas aid priorities. The support from Irish Government enables REEEP to support projects in this region, especially east and southern Africa and specifically Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The Irish support to REEEP is an important contribution enabling the partnership to have a development component, thus balancing REEEP’s portfolio. For more information visit their website at http://www.reeep.org/
Perspectives from Abroad
The Perspectives from Abroad lecture series initiative, which has been run by SEAI for the past four years, facilitates dialogue in Ireland around the formation of energy policy. This occurs through the presentation of detailed views and analysis from other EU member states and from abroad, including the USA, Japan, and Australia, on various issues related to the three pillars of energy policy: security of supply, competitiveness and environmental considerations.
The series attracted contributions from numerous internationally recognised experts in 2006, including: John A (Skip) Laitner, Senior Economist in USA EPA, perspective on “Policy and Technology Approaches to Energy Efficiency”, Wim Thomas from Shell’s Global Scenarios Team, perspective on “Energy policy in the Medium term, Shell’s Global Energy Scenarios to 2025”, Professor Michael Hanemann from University of California Berkeley, spoke on California’s Climate Strategy, and Hugh Outhred, Associate Professor in Energy Systems in the University of New South Wales, Australia, gave a perspective on “Renewable Energy Iintegration”.
