ESB chief executive Padraig McManus has urged the Government to promote electricity use in transport.
Speaking at the Irish Management Institute's annual conference today in Enniskerry, Padraig McManus said that electricity is the cleanest and most efficient energy at the point of use, and we need to use more of it.
He called on Government to support the introduction of electrified cars, saying that to recharge every car in Ireland daily would use about 2,000mw of electricity. Current capacity is over 5,000mw. The cars would be charged at night when demand is low.
Mr McManus said the Irish transport sector is 270% above where it needs to be in terms of getting the reductions Europe has set, even though the country is below the European average in terms of car ownership. This would reduce the sector's carbon emissions.
'We have got to try to produce electricity without CO2 and at the same time meet the demand of the market place,' stated Mr McManus.
He said that 3% of Irish railways are electrified, while in Belgium 85% are electrified. He added that while ESB has not yet spoken to Irish Rail it would be prepared to talk to transport businesses about how electricity could be supplied.
Mr McManus also mentioned the high price of oil and other natural resources. When he was appointed ESB CEO in 2002, oil cost $25 a barrel. Today it is at $98, having been over $100 a barrel several times this year.
He said the market determines the end-price of electricity, but that prices are likely to go up this year if fuel prices do not fall.
'Unless we see some amelioration in prices this will feed into higher energy prices by the end of the year,' he said.
In a strategy announced last week, ESB set out several milestones, one of which was the cutting out of carbon emissions by 2035 to zero. It will also be out of oil generation by 2012. The coal fired station at Moneypoint will be burning clean coal in the future and 33% of ESB's generation will be from renewables by 2020.
ESB has a turnover of over €2 billion euro. It has 1.8 million customers and is one of the biggest service providers in Ireland. It is 95% owned by the Government, with the remaining 5% owned by an empolyees' share ownership trust.
