Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 October 2023
155. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to outline the measures his Department is taking to expand retrofit in education and further education sectors; how many retrofits have been completed in the further and higher education sector in 2020, 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023; what the target is for 2024 and 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45222/23]
View answerAn Energy Efficiency and Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme (EEDPP) in Higher Education was first introduced in 2020 and is co-funded by my Department and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) under Project Ireland 2040, and administered through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and Higher Education Authority (HEA). The purpose of the programme is to test and demonstrate energy retrofit approaches, build scale, and inform key stakeholders.
A first round of the Programme fund of up to €5.9 million (co-funded by DECC ) was approved in the initial phase. Approved projects under this phase have been progressed through various stages of design, planning and construction. Seven projects are now complete - three completed in 2022 and four completed in 2023.
A second phase of the EEDPP HE (Higher Education) was agreed in 2021. A Programme fund of up to €22 million (co-funded by DECC ) was approved in this phase. 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 – one was completed in 2023, and three are at construction stage ( two with an expected completion date of 2023 and one with an expected completion date of 2024) and the remainder are at procurement and implementation stage with an expected completion date of 2024.
A new round of the EEDPP is now being progressed in HE in 2023. A Programme fund of up to €26 million (co-funded by the DECC ) was approved in this phase. A call for proposals process was undertaken by the HEA, who subsequently submitted an evaluation report to the Department and the SEAI. Deliberations between all the parties to the agreed funding process have been on-going, however it is expected the outcome of this stage of the process will be notified shortly to the HEIs that applied for funding under this scheme.
With regard to the Further Education sector DFHERIS, SEAI and SOLAS are currently in the planning phase of delivering an Energy Efficiency and Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme for further education and training. I look forward to making an announcement on this capital investment programme in the near future.
The programme in FET will expand on the body of knowledge, which has been built through previous rounds of EEDPP in Higher Education, and on lessons learned from Pathfinder programmes across the public service. The roll-out of funding under this programme on a phased basis enables a pipeline of projects over the period 2024 and 2025 and the learnings from earlier phases can feed into new phases.
Using Devolved Grant 2023 funding, the further and higher education sectors may of course separately opt, subject to defined expenditure limits, to directly invest in retrofit works to their buildings.
