Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 January 2024
141. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the total amount of funding provided to businesses for support decarbonisation over the past five years; and the funding allocated to support firms with decarbonisation in 2024. [2833/24]
View answerFrom 2019 to 2023 inclusive, businesses availed of funding from my Department of approximately €81 million, provided to them via the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). €77 million was grant and tariff funding, with a further €4 million provided for training and advisory supports to business. Under the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat, 15 year tariff commitments may be entered into, which mean businesses are in receipt of ongoing support via the tariff over a 15 year period.
SEAI is also funding the ENACT initiative, a 3-year initiative, tasked with ‘enabling national action on commercial renovation.’ Led by the Irish Green Building Council, with partners including University of Galway, Sustainability Works, Dublin Chambers of Commerce and the Society for Chartered Surveyors of Ireland, it has run a series of webinars and events for business aimed at supporting them on their decarbonisation journey. More information can be found here: www.igbc.ie/enact-commercial-retrofit/
SEAI is also supporting businesses through decarbonisation research, including the development of test sites, for example the Atlantic Marine Energy Test site. www.oceanenergyireland.com/test-facilities/atlantic-marine-energy-test-site/
A total budget allocation of €56 million has been provided to SEAI for business support grants in 2024. In addition, there are further decarbonisation supports available to businesses through agencies under the remit of the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, to whom I understand a similar question has been asked.
The SEAI schemes which businesses may avail of which are supported by my Department are set out under. Table 1 sets out the funding provided to each over the last 5 years as well as the Budget for 2024.
• The Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) provides financial support in the adoption of renewable heating systems by commercial, industrial, agricultural, district heating and other non-domestic heat users.
• The EXEED (Excellence in Energy Efficient Design) certified grant scheme supports organisations with the costs of embedding energy efficient design in their assets, to reduce lifecycle impact with lower energy use and carbon emissions.
• The Support Scheme for Energy Audits (SSEA) supports SMEs, in particular, with a €2,000 voucher towards the costs of a professional energy audit.
• The Energy Academy is an online learning platform for business to help them reduce their energy costs
• The Accelerated Capital Allowance scheme for energy efficient equipment is a taxation incentive, aimed at encouraging investment in energy efficient products.
• The Community Energy Grant scheme supports cross-sectoral projects, including homes, businesses and other non-domestic applicants. Typically around 60% of total scheme funding is for non-domestic.
• The Non-Domestic Microgeneration Scheme was launched in September 2022, to provide grant supports to the non-domestic sector, including schools, businesses, small farms and community enterprises for Solar PV installations up to 6kW. An extended funding range was subsequently introduced on a pilot basis, in July 2023, to include installation sizes up to 1,000 kWp (1 MW) capacity, bringing the maximum grant level to €162,500.
• Energy Academy is an online resource administered by SEAI providing access to high quality energy training to SEAI clients.
• Large Industry Energy Network (LIEN) - The SEAI hosts a large industry energy network to assist the large energy-using companies, typically those in industry and agriculture using large thermal loads. Best practice guidance is shared among LIEN members on energy efficient design and how best to manage energy performance.
• A new scheme for non-domestic retrofit (the “NDRS”), with a particular focus on the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises, is in development by SEAI and is intended to be operational this year. The new scheme will support a range of measures to improve energy efficiency and decarbonisation in the commercial sector.
Funding in the period 2019-2023 is set out in the Table under as well as the Budget for 2024.
|
Grant funding €M |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Total €M |
2024 Budget |
|
Community Grant (non-domestic element) |
10.25 |
8.79 |
15.84 |
11.42 |
11.03 |
57.33 |
23.5 |
|
EXEED |
2.50 |
2.70 |
3.39 |
1.24 |
2.01 |
11.84 |
4.6 |
|
SSEA |
|
|
0.02 |
1.80 |
2.25 |
4.07 |
3.2 |
|
SSRH |
|
|
0.22 |
0.72 |
1.16 |
2.10 |
4.6 |
|
Non Domestic Microgeneration |
|
|
|
|
0.26 |
0.26 |
17 |
|
Non Domestic Retrofit (New in '24) |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
Advisory supports (non grant) including Large Industry Network, SME engagement and training, mentoring and advice. |
0.69 |
0.89 |
0.73 |
0.95 |
0.98 |
4.24 |
0.9 |
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
79.84 |
55.8 |
In addition, 2 pilot schemes were run in 2019, a dairy farm grant scheme pilot and a pilot lighting scheme for SMEs, to which grant funding of 0.5m and 0.7 m respectively was allocated, bringing the total allocated in the last 5 years to €81m.
