(1) Chapter 3 of Part 15 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after section 486A (inserted by section 61) of the following section:

"Relief for investment in renewable energy generation.

486B.

(1) In this section -

'authorised officer' means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners authorised by them in writing for the purposes of this section;

'commencement date' means the day on which section 62 of the Finance Act, 1998, comes into operation;

'the Minister' means the Minister for Public Enterprise;

'new ordinary shares' means new ordinary shares forming part of the ordinary share capital of a qualifying company which, throughout the period of five years commencing on the date such shares are issued, carry no present or future preferential right to dividends, or to a company's assets on its winding up, and no present or future preferential right to be redeemed;

'qualifying company' means a company which -

(a) is incorporated in the State,

(b) is resident in the State and not resident elsewhere, and

(c) exists solely for the purposes of undertaking a qualifying energy project;

'qualifying energy project' means a renewable energy project in respect of which the Minister has given a certificate under subsection (2) which has not been revoked under that subsection;