Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
88. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to provide a breakdown of total capital and current funding allocated to the solar pv scheme under subhead b4 of the revised Estimate for 2024; and to provide a breakdown of the allocation under this scheme dedicated to domestic and non-domestic solar PV, respectively. [13966/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Microgeneration Support Scheme (MSS) was approved by Government on 21 December 2021, to support Ireland’s ambitious targets for micro-generation installations, under the Climate Action Plan. The MSS provides supports to both domestic and non-domestic applicants, in the form of grants for Solar PV installations, which are available through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), up to a maximum of €2,100 for Domestic installations and €162,600 for non-domestic installations.
The SEAI maintains data regarding the financing and functioning of the Domestic Solar PV scheme and the previous pilot scheme it replaced in 2022 and has facilitated the information in response to your question. Past allocations of capital and current funding to the SEAI in respect of the Domestic Solar PV scheme are as follows:
|
- |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
Capital |
€ 6,500,000 |
€ 11,000,000 |
€ 14,000,000 |
€ 28,770,000 |
|
Current |
€ 200,000 |
€500,000 |
€680,000 |
€630,000 |
Due to high grant uptake levels, the initial capital allocations in 2020, 2022 and 2023 were exceeded, requiring the provision of additional funds, bringing the total supports provided to:
|
- |
2020 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
Total capital provided |
€ 7,600,000 |
€ 25,200,000 |
€ 52,900,000 |
This high level of demand is expected to continue into 2024 and indicates that the scheme is working very well and that citizens are recognising the benefits of investing in Solar PV. With domestic applicants currently being able to avail of grants of up to €2,100 with the potential to support a further 26,000 homes with allocated budget of €70.2 million for the Domestic Scheme and Solar PV Scheme for Medically Vulnerable.
The Non-Domestic Microgen scheme commenced in September 2022.
The initial version of the scheme enabled applicants such as businesses, farms, schools, and community buildings to apply for a grant for installations up to 6kW, at the same grant amounts as domestic customers, An extended funding range of up to €162,600 was introduced in July 2023 to support non-domestic installation sizes between 7 kWp and 1,000 kWp (1 MW) capacity, on a pilot basis to the end of 2023. By the end of 2023, over €13.5m in grants had been accrued. It is expected that the annualised cost of the expanded non-domestic support scheme, at the same estimated uptake level, would be approximately €25 million.
