Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 January 2022
183. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications his views on a targeted roll-out of sectoral specific grants for microgeneration of wind and solar for SMEs that consume large quantities of energy such as dairy farms and supermarkets as a method of reducing demand on the national grid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3431/22]
View answerThe pending introduction of the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) tariff represents the first phase of a comprehensive enabling framework for micro-and small-scale generators in Ireland that will allow them to receive payment from their electricity supplier for all excess renewable electricity they export to the grid, which reflects the market value of the electricity.The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) published a decision on 1 December 2021 outlining the interim arrangements for implementation of the CEG, including eligibility criteria and remuneration methodology. The CEG will become available upon the transposition of Article 21 of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) into Irish law and will be available to both new and existing micro- and small-scale generators who comply with the CRU decision.Businesses that use a large amount of electricity, particularly supermarkets, will benefit most when they consume electricity on site from their own micro-generation. The financial business case for micro-generation for these high electricity users is already very strong and the CEG will only benefit the small amount of spilled electricity, if any, that these businesses generate.The second phase of the enabling framework is the Micro-generation Support Scheme (MSS) which was approved by Government on 21 December 2021 and will open on a phased basis in 2022. Under the MSS, homes, farms, businesses and community organisations generating up to 6.0kW will be eligible for a Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) grant at the same levels as domestic customers (max €2,400), in addition to the CEG. This grant will become available later in 2022.Solar PV is also one of a range of measures funded under the SEAI Communities Energy Grant Scheme which makes grant funding available to improve the energy efficiency of the building stock, and is open to domestic and non-domestic applications. For farm enterprises, grant supports for solar PV are also available from the Department for Agriculture, Food and Marine, under the Pig and Poultry Investment Scheme as part of the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Schemes (TAMS).
