Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 June 2023
163. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he and his Department are considering the introduction of low-interest loans or State-provided finance for the provision and installation of solar panels for households in order to help meet Ireland’s climate targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28903/23]
View answerThe Government’s Micro-generation Support Scheme (MSS) is targeting 380MW of new renewable generation capacity to contribute to an overall revised target for solar PV of up to 8GW by 2030, under the Climate Action Plan 23. The scheme design was supported by detailed economic and policy analysis, as well as public consultation, prior to its approval in December 2021.
Grants are currently available through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) for domestic installations, up to a maximum of €2,400. Since the introduction of the MSS domestic grant in February 2022, the SEAI have seen application levels rise sharply. In 2022, the SEAI received 16,819 applications to the Domestic Solar PV programme, which resulted in grant support for 10,018 homes, at a cost of €24.4m and a total installed capacity of 46.5 MW. This indicates an average installation size of 4.6kW. This is a significant increase from 2021 when 4,077 homes received grant support, with 16.3 MW capacity installed. Moreover, current projections for 2023 indicate an even higher level of applications will be supported.
While this very high level of interest indicates that the current design of the MSS is working well, its operation and effectiveness will be kept under review and adjustments made where necessary.
There are no plans for a dedicated Solar PV loan scheme but a residential retrofit loan guarantee scheme is in development in my Department. The retrofit loan guarantee scheme will provide loans for solar as part of deep upgrade to a home and will be the first consumer-focused guaranteed loan of its kind in Ireland. It is expected that the loan guarantee scheme will be in place in Q3 2023.
It should also be noted that maximising consumption of self-generated electricity will provide the most benefit to offset rising electricity costs and shorten the payback period for the investment in the installation of solar panels. Additionally, the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) tariff is now available from all electricity suppliers, offering the opportunity for remuneration for excess renewable electricity exported to the grid.
