Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 February 2022
134. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if consideration will be given to the grouping of homes together, for example neighbours, for the purposes of delivering significant energy upgrades under the national retrofitting scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9383/22]
View answerThe Government has approved a package of supports as part of the delivery of Ireland’s residential retrofit programme. These measures are aimed at making it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades, for warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes, with lower energy bills and reduced emissions.
These new measures include:
- The establishment of the new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme, offering increased grant levels of up to 50% of the cost of a typical B2 home energy upgrade with a heat pump (up from the current level of 30-35%).
- Establishment of a network of registered One Stop Shops to offer a new end-to-end project management service. This includes surveying the home; designing the upgrades; managing the grant processes; helping with access to finance; engaging the contractors to deliver the work and then quality-assuring that work.
It is expected that the One Stop Shops will be distributed across Ireland, with a considerable number capable of offering services nationwide, due to the network of contractors they are working with throughout the country. Other One Stop Shops are expected to work within geographic regions. This will ensure that every home can benefit from the One Stop Shop service on offer.
The capital funding available for the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme is €97 million, with a €40 million allocation in 2022 and €57 million in 2023. This is expected to deliver 2,000 deep energy retrofits to B2 level with a heat pump in 2022 and an additional 3,000 in 2023.
The new one stop shop model is suitable for bringing together groups of homes for aggregated projects thereby creating efficiencies in delivery and developing new innovation in processes and technologies.
Furthermore, the Community Energy Grant Scheme makes grant funding available for community-based partnerships to improve the energy efficiency of the building stock in their area. The Scheme is designed to support cross-sectoral, partnership approaches that deliver energy savings to a range of building types including public, commercial and community buildings, with a particular focus on using the projects to deliver home retrofits.
The total budget for the Community Energy Grant scheme will be €43 million in 2022, of which approximately €15 million will relate to home retrofits. The new grant rates announced under the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme will also be available under the Community Energy Grant scheme for homeowners wishing to undertake their energy upgrades as part of a community project
Registration for companies wishing to apply to be a one stop shop is now open. I expect the first One Stop Shops to be registered within the coming weeks. Homeowners can then make applications for upgrades. The call for projects under the Community Energy Grant scheme will be launched shortly.
