St. Patrick's Day may have been last week, but, with a new government plan to encourage micro power generation, Ireland is proving that it still loves the color green.

Announcing the move, Energy Minister Eamon Ryan said, “We are changing the rules and changing the nature of electricity generation in Ireland.”

The new rules will guarantee a 19 cent per kilowatt hour pot of gold for homegrown green power. Called a feed-in tariff, this kind of regulation allows those who produce electricity to sell it to the utility for a set price, encouraging adoption. These benefits will be available to the first 4,000 eco-preneurs over the next 3 years for small scale wind, photovoltaic, hydro and combined heat and power installations.

However these aren't the only improvements the emerald isle is making to its microgeneration rules. Other changes will streamline grid connection, exempt the low-carb projects from planning rules, and offer 50 grants to cover 40% of the cost of trial units up to 50kw.

Besides buoying the rural economy and (hopefully) reducing consumer bills, Ireland wants to break its oil habit too. "Every year, we send €6 billion out of this country on fossil fuels. This type of generation will help reduce this dependence and this outflow of money. We do not want to be dependent on Russia or Saudi Arabia for our energy needs; we can supply our own,” said Ryan.

And the country is pursuing other eco-technologies too. Earlier this month, Ireland's Mainstream Renewable Power inked an $850 million (CAD) wind investment deal with Alberta Wind Energy Corp.