Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2018
109. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if consideration will be given to accelerating the number of community energy projects under the sustainable energy community network. [53137/18]
View answerOver 200 community groups have signed up to the Sustainable Energy Communities (SEC) Network since it was launched in 2015 and are availing of technical support and mentoring from SEAI. The next step is to develop a 3 year Partnership Agreement between SEAI and the communities, to identify, plan, implement and review a tailored programme of sustainable energy activities for each community and give them access to initial funding. Almost 30 network members now have Partnership status.
In 2017, €750,000 in funding was made available to support the SEC network to develop a multi annual pipeline for the scheme that will build capacity in communities to take on more ambitious sustainable energy projects and projects of scale in the coming years. This year 17 Sustainable Energy Community projects have been offered grants totalling €2.44million, to enable them to carry out smaller energy projects as identified in their Energy Master Plans. This gradual increase in funding directly reflects the capacity that has been built among the communities in the network in the short space of time since 2015.
The Deputy may also be aware of the Better Energy Communities Scheme (BEC) which funds community based partnerships to improve the energy efficiency of the building stock in their area. These partnerships can be between the public and private sectors, residential and commercial sectors, not-for-profit organisations and energy suppliers, and can leverage considerable additional private investment. This year 37 projects have been offered exchequer funding of €22.7million.
Further detail on the supports available for communities is available on SEAI's website. https://www.seai.ie/grants/community-grants/.
