Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 July 2017
612. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount spent on the SEAI better energy communities project in 2015 and 2016 and to date in 2017; the number of persons that participated in this scheme on a yearly basis, by county. [32190/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers the Better Energy Communities (BEC) Scheme on behalf of my Department. The Scheme aims to support and encourage community based partnerships to improve the energy efficiency of homes, businesses and community facilities in a local area. To date the scheme has supported the upgrade of more than 14,000 homes and several hundred shared community facilities, from sports clubs to community centres and childcare facilities.
In 2015, €15 million in grant funding was awarded to 33 projects. The list of successful projects for 2015 is attached.
In 2016, almost €20 million in grant support was awarded under this Scheme to 35 community projects. An additional two projects which sought funding of less than €50,000 were also funded. This provided for energy efficiency upgrades to more than 2,000 homes and 405 community and commercial facilities. The total investment in energy efficiency, including funding from local communities themselves, was almost €48 million, supporting an estimated 700 direct and indirect jobs across the country. There were 63 applications received in total. The full list of successful projects is available on SEAI's website at: http://www.seai.ie/Grants/Better_Energy_Communities/BEC-projects-2016-Oct-revision.pdf.
This year, more than €26m in grant funding has been awarded to 44 projects across the country. This funding will provide for energy efficiency upgrades to over 2,000 homes, of which 1,510 are energy poor, and a further 479 community, public and commercial facilities. The projects include a wide range of upgrades to building fabric, heating systems, lighting and solar heating. This grant support will leverage a total investment in energy efficiency of almost €67 million, supporting more than 1,000 jobs in the construction sector across the country. The list of successful projects for 2017 is also attached.
The SEAI has established a specific email address for queries from Oireachtas members, which can be sent to oireachtas@seai.ie and will be dealt with promptly.
