Ireland to introduce geothermal energy development legislation in 2016
O'Connell Street, Dublin, Ireland (source: Commons, Wikimedia)
Alexander Richter
18 Kas 2015
A new piece legislation aimed at creating a legal framework for geothermal development in Ireland is expected to be brought forward in 2016.
Reporting on the legislative programme for the Irish Government, there are a total of 131 proposed new bills. For 2016, a Geothermal Energy Development Bill is expected to be published.
The Bill will aim at providing a legislative framework for the vesting, licensing and regulation of the development of geothermal energy.
“An extensive consultative process started in 2008 in advance of the drafting of the general scheme of the Bill and included webbased consultations, two national workshops and meetings with industry stakeholders. Draft Heads of the Bill completed in July 2010 have been submitted to the Government for approval and referred to the Attorney General and the Parliamentary Counsel for detailed drafting alongside the proposed new Minerals Development Bill. This consultation process is ongoing and publication of the Bill is expected in the near future. ” (Pasquali, Allen, Burgess, Jones, Williams, “Geothermal Energy Utilisation – Ireland Country Update” WGC 2015)
While the 2015 Ireland Country Update, describes mostly geothermal heat pumps, there have also been efforts on the utilisation of “deep geothermal resources” of Ireland. Efforts in 2009 and 2010 have stalled due to the lack of tariffs for geothermal electricity generation. There are though opportunities for direct use applications and one can hope that the new legislation will help initiate development efforts anew.
Source: Mason, Hayes & Curran (law firm)
