68 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the level of success of wind energy; the incentives which are available for such developments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10658/02]

It is accepted that renewable energies need special support to operate successfully in the internal electricity market. In Ireland the support measure is a power purchase agreement, PPA, between a producer and the ESB obliging the latter to purchase the output from nominated new renewable energy based electricity generating stations at guaranteed prices for up to fifteen years. Possession of a PPA enables producers to raise the necessary finance to build projects. Under this support measure there are 22 wind farms in commercial operation around the country with a total installed capacity of 124 megawatts.

In February last I announced the results of the most recent competitive tender round, AER V. Originally I had signalled my intention to support up to 255 MW of plant. Due to the quality of applications submitted I increased the support to 363 MW. In the wind energy categories the original target was 240 MW. In the event I conditionally accepted 40 wind energy projects amounting to 354 MW.

AER V was the first occasion where planning permission for the proposed project was a condition of entry. This must increase the likelihood of projects proceeding to commercial operation. In addition I have already indicated I will shortly announce a further competition, AER VI, to deliver my overall demanding target of an additional 500 MW of new generating plant based on renewable energy technologies by 2005.

The work I have set in train will see historic levels of progress in the wind energy sector over the next two years.