Energy

Government ‘deluded’ about 80% renewable energy by 2030

John Reilly, head of power generation at Bord na Móna, says there are too many bottlenecks in the system for the state’s targets to be met

‘For whatever reason’, Ireland is ‘not able to deliver energy infrastructure’, according to John Reilly, Bord na Móna’s head of power generation.Reilly said the country was ‘mad if we think we can achieve the 2030 targets from where we are today’. Picture: Jeff Harvey

The state’s 2030 targets for renewable energy are not realistic due to planning delays and the severe lack of investment in the power grid over the last decade, a senior executive at Bord na Móna has said.

John Reilly, head of power generation at the semi-state, warned the government was “deluded” if it believed 80 per cent of the state’s power would come from renewables by 2030 given the structural problems in the energy sector.