The Transmission Planning Bill should cut delays in getting permission forelectricity projects

The Government is set to introduce legislation that will fasttrack the development of the Republic's electricity network.

The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Ahern, yesterday revealed that work was under way on a Transmission Planning Bill that would cut delays in getting permission for electricity generation and transmission projects.

At the first day of the annual Energy Ireland conference in Dublin, Mr Ahern warned that the State could not afford long delays in introducing infrastructure vital to its economic well-being.

He said there had been high-profile delays in improving the Republic's high voltage network, particularly where plans involved crossing county boundaries.

"In the future, such projects will have to be identified as being of national strategic importance and dealt with through a fast-tracked planning process," he said. He added that the new law would not allow these projects' backers to avoid their obligation to obey the law, or prevent legitimate objections.

"We must recognise that we cannot afford the luxury of waiting years for the planning process to run its course while critical infrastructure remains undelivered," he warned. He said the ESB would be investing almost €4 billion on modernising transmission and distribution in 2003-2007.

Reacting to the announcement, Friends of the Irish Environment said in a statement that the Minister was taking the wrong approach. The group argued that investment in electricity should go into a large number of small- scale, widely distributed "energy sources". Mr Ahern also said he favoured creating a single electricity transmission system and market for the whole island.

He argued that this would cut the investment required and ultimately reduce the cost of electricity to customers.

Both the Republic's electricity regulator, Mr Tom Reeves, and his opposite number in Northern Ireland, Mr Douglas McIldoon, were in the audience.

Mr Michael McNicholas, executive director of the ESB's power generation and supply divisions, said creating an all-island market would fit in with European strategy, as it would be the first step to an integrated Ireland-UK market.

"The European strategy is very clearly to develop regional markets as stepping stones to a fully-integrated European single market. The creation of a UK-Ireland market is a key part of that strategy," he said. He added that Europe had given priority status to an interconnector linking both islands.

The Commission for Energy Regulation has recently given Mr Ahern the cost-benefit analysis of the proposed Wales-Ireland electricity interconnector. The Minister said he would decide soon on the next step with this plan.

Mr Reeves outlined how the pool system of selling electricity would work when the market was fully liberalised in 2005.

Under this system, suppliers will have to sell electricity into a common pool, but producers and suppliers will be allowed make their own deals.

At a separate event, Sustainable Energy Ireland said at the launch of a solar energy conference that the sun generated 600 times the total amount of energy consumed in the country each year.