Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 June 2023
765. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason the Government is not ensuring the installation of solar panels on local authority homes that are undergoing retrofit works; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28134/23]
View answerMy Department launched the Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Programme (EERP) in 2013 with the aim of funding retrofit of social homes requiring insulation and energy upgrade works. Since the programme commenced in 2013, over 77,500 local authority social housing dwellings have been retrofitted with a total exchequer spend of over €251 million.
In 2021 a new holistic approach was applied to the programme, designed around the Programme for Government's commitment led by the Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications that calls for the 'retrofit' of 500,000 homes to a B2/Cost Optimal Equivalent (BER) standard by 2030, of which, approximately 36,500 are expected to be local authority owned homes, with grant funding provided by my Department for those local authority housing retrofits.
The 2023 EERP budget provides an increase in funding support from €85 million allocated in 2022 to €87 million in 2023 which will allow approximately 2,400 local authority owned social homes to be upgraded to a B2 or cost optimal equivalent (BER). With regard to the local authority properties which are selected to be retrofitted through funding available from the EERP, the selection of properties is a matter for each individual local authority.
Works eligible under my Department's revised EERP include attic/cavity wall insulation or external wall insulation where required, windows and doors replacement, heat pump installation and ancillary and associated works. The funded measures achieve the B2 or cost optimal equivalent (BER) as identified by the 2018 Cost Optimal calculations carried out under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. In certain circumstances, my Department supports the installation of 1kWp solar PV for small social housing with a floor area less than 55 m2, with a maximum HLI of 2.6 on a pilot basis. In such cases local authorities are required to cooperate with SEAI as part of research monitoring the performance of heat pumps in these dwellings.
The cost optimal level is currently being reviewed with a view to being published later in 2023. It is intended that the Building Regulations will be further updated to adopt the 2023 cost optimal calculations no later than Q1 2025.
Furthermore, under the Microgeneration Support Scheme led by Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Solar PV is available for all domestic premises.
