The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers the Better Energy Communities scheme on behalf of my Department. The scheme aims to support and encourage community based partnerships to improve the energy efficiency of homes, businesses and community facilities in a local area. To date the scheme has supported the upgrade of more than 12,000 homes and several hundred shared community facilities, from sports clubs to community centres and childcare facilities.
My Department agreed a number of high level principles for the operation of the Better Energy Communities scheme in 2016 with SEAI. This led to the creation of a new category of projects with a value under €50,000 that can be progressed faster than normal applications. It also capped funding for any single project at €1,000,000 to ensure more projects and communities can receive funding and made €500,000 available for the creation of a support network dedicated to helping community organisations that want to develop a sustainable energy system in their local area.
However, all applications to the Better Energy Communities Scheme are assessed in a competitive process operated by SEAI and neither I, nor my Department, have any function in relation to the evaluation or selection of projects. This competitive process is fully transparent and I would urge any unsuccessful applicants to contact SEAI directly for feedback in relation to their application, which may assist in any future applications for support.
