The EGA were this year honoured to have
Minister Pat Rabbitte as Guest Speaker for our Annual Spring Lecture. Link to full speech here. I was
delighted to be joined by UCD Vice President Professor Orla Feely to welcome
the Minister to UCD.
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Minister is welcomed by EGA President PJ Rudden and UCD
Vice President Professor Orla Feely
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During the lecture he announced publicly for
the first time that the Government had just that day approved a €1billion
capital investment programme for ESB to be spent on transmission and
distribution electricity networks.
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| Minister delivers EGA Annual Spring Lecture |
In addition to that announcement - carried that night by Engineers Ireland in their eJournal ahead of the national media! - the Minister gave a wide ranging Lecture on the improvement in the Irish economy and the energy challenges we currently face resulting from that improvement.
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| Kelley Cousins Engineers Ireland and Mary Anne Carrigan Editor Engineers Ireland attend the EGA Event |
'We need to keep a strong focus on the capital investment which will support jobs and investment' the Minister said 'the Government recently drew up a list of the 20 largest projects being developed over the next 4 years. Half of these are PPPs. The projects have a combined indicative value of €3.27billion and are targeted for delivery from late 2014 to 2018'.
Turning to Energy, he stated that energy policy has a pivotal role to play in creating the conditions for economic recovery and for job creation. 'Building our energy infrastructure is becoming more challenging' he said 'yet EirGrid delivered a major project the East West Interconnector (EWIC) between UK and Ireland on time and within budget. EWIC demonstrates not only our collective commitment to necessary large scale investment, it is also a practical demonstration of Ireland's ability to complete a major European scale energy project efficiently, safely and to the highest standards'.
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| Minister with Fintan Slye CEO EirGrid, Marian Regan NewEra / National Treasury Management Agency and Denis Cagney Director of Energy Networks and Renewables at Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) |
On continued Government support for renewable
energy the Minister was unequivocal - 'transforming Ireland's economy from one
based on a predominantly fossil fuel to a more indigenous low carbon economy
that is centred on energy efficiency, renewable energy and smart networks
offers the greatest scope to address the inter-related challenges of climate
change, energy security and competitiveness'.
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| Board Member Robyn Kelly with Fellow 2008 UCD Biosystems Graduates Damien Farrelly and Liam Brennan |
He also spoke of the island of Ireland being 'effectively a successful live research facility especially in the Smart Grid evolution. This is because the Single Electricity Market (SEM) in north and south is relatively small yet with ambitious targets for renewable energy generation (40%). There is no other system in Europe making this possible.
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| ex CEO EirGrid Dermot Byrne, Mainstream Director Joe Corbett and EGA Past President Micheal Loughnane |
Regarding the strategic planning process for
onshore energy infrastructure in Ireland, the Minister said 'it needs to
provide a framework for ensuring that all necessary standards are met and that
comprehensive consultation is built into the process... In realising our
renewable energy potential, both for domestic and export purposes and realising
its inherent economic benefits, we must ensure that the concerns of communities
and citizens are properly addressed...(as) the environmental and economic
benefits of renewable energy are real'.
He concluded 'I want to pay tribute to the
central role that UCD has in the production of great engineers and great
engineering. You should be very proud to be members of this great Association.'
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| Magdalena Douleva UCD Foundation and PJ Rudden EGA President |
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| Siobhan Duggan, Mary White and Martin Hogan attended the event |
The Q&A session which followed was very
lively even robust at time as the quite well informed audience questioned the
Minister on a range of issues - Copenhagen Accord, gas storage, biomass,
hydrocarbon exploration, shale gas fracking, European response to US gas prices
post shale gas revolution, building energy efficiency. The Minister did not
have to pass any of the challenging technical questions to his Chief Technical
Adviser Bob Hanna who also attended - a great credit to the Minister's wide
knowledge range on energy matters and his experienced political skills also.
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| PJ Rudden makes EGA Presentation to Minister |
As we concluded the event I presented
Minister Rabbitte with Dublin Crystal with the UCD logo inscribed on it
and thanked him sincerely for his open honest approach to all energy issues
raised - a refreshing feature that makes Pat Rabbitte the very successful Minister that
he is.
That is really a great thing.
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