Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 June 2023
1349. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if universities will be able to avail of Government plans to provide solar photovoltaic panels as part of the summer works scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27581/23]
View answerWhile there are currently no plans in my Department for the provision of funding of universities to explicitly avail of solar photovoltaic solutions as part of any summer works scheme, I can advise the Deputy that energy efficiency and decarbonisation initiatives in the Higher Education Sector are underway, since 2020.
An Energy Efficiency and Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme (EEDPP) in Higher Education 2020 was co-funded with Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) in order to test and demonstrate energy retrofit approaches, build scale, and inform key stakeholders. A Programme fund of up to €5.9 million (co-funded by the SEAI) was approved in this initial phase. Approved projects are being progressed through various stages of design, planning and construction. Seven were nearing completion or at completion stage at year end 2022.
A second phase of the EEDPP (Higher Education) was agreed in 2021. The EEDPP 2021 (HE) aimed to consolidate the learnings from EEDPP 2020 and build on the solutions or pathways identified in the ‘Higher Education Decarbonisation Pathways’ Report. The programme made funding available for six pathways identified in the report with the aim of assisting key stakeholders to better understand how these pathways might be undertaken. Under the EEDPP 2021, HEIs were invited to submit proposals for retrofit works to existing buildings which were in line with the pathways identified in the HEA Decarbonisation Report. Eight projects were successful under EEDPP 2021 and are currently at design stage.
Around half of the projects supported under the EEDPP programme in 2020 and 2021 involve solar PV panels as part of the solution.
A new round of the EEDPP is now being progressed in HE in 2023. The HEA submitted an evaluation report to the Department and the SEAI and it is currently under consideration.
Using Devolved Grant 2023 funding, universities may of course separately opt, subject to defined expenditure limits, to directly invest in solar photovoltaic panels solutions.
