Irish Renewables Future Boosted By Project Ireland 2040
Project Ireland 2040 was launched by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Sligo's Institute of Technology last week. Mr Varadkar said it was time to "turn back on" the projects that had to be shelved during the economic downturn.
Transition to a Low Carbon and Climate Resilient Society
Investment priorities will include upgrading of 45,000 homes per annum from 2021, an additional 4.5 GW of renewable energy, full rollout of the Renewable Heat Support Scheme, transition to low emission, including electric, buses for the urban bus fleet.
Among the major infrastructural projects over the next ten years will be the North-South and the Celtic interconnectors.
A new €500 million Climate Action Fund will leverage further investment by public and private bodies, with a strong focus on interventions in the transport sector.
The government will also fund research to accelerate the switch to "wind, wave, solar, biomass, biofuels, biogas and hydrogen", more interconnectors and new electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure to ensure at least half a million EVs are on the road by 2030. Dublin will also ban the sale of non-zero emission vehicles after 2030, with all new buses to be electric from 2019.
There will also be a number of "climate-smart countryside" projects to help homes and farms export power from small-scale distributed renewable energy schemes.
