Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 May 2022
109. Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the reason that the Electric Ireland micro generation scheme is only for residential properties and not open to business properties; the rationale for this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28050/22]
View answerThe final design of the Micro-generation Support Scheme (MSS) was approved by Government in December 2021 and will be published shortly. On the 15 February this year I signed the Regulations that transpose Articles 21 and 22 of the recast Renewable Energy Directive which brings these Articles into force. These Regulations allow the Clean Export Guarantee tariff to become available for micro-and small-scale generators so that they will receive payment from their electricity supplier for all excess renewable electricity they export to the grid, reflective of the market value. The phased introduction of supports has already begun with the commencement by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) of the MSS domestic solar PV grant on 16 February last, with grant levels up to €2,400, the removal of the minimum BER requirement and increasing eligibility for homes built before 2021. The SEAI will extend the solar PV grant to the non-domestic sector for installations up to 6.0kW in July this year. Businesses that use a large amount of electricity will benefit most when they maximise self-consumption from their own micro-generation. The financial business case for micro-generation for these high electricity users is already strong. Any residual exported electricity will be eligible to receive the CEG tariff. New installations greater than 6kW up to 50kW will be eligible for a Clean Export Premium (CEP) tariff per kWh exported from their electricity supplier. The Clean Export Premium (CEP) will be €0.135/kWh in 2022, fixed for 15 years. It is expected that the Clean Export Premium (CEP) will be implemented further to a public consultation on an Implementation Plan by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) in Quarter 3 this year.
Question No. 110 resubmitted.
