Mr. Noel Cahill:

The main opportunity we identify in the report is to make use of the idea of the energy service company model. This means a third party would become involved that has expertise in energy. There are different models in how this can work. It would seem an attractive idea for the public sector to engage with a third party that would initially undertake the investment, which would be repaid using subsequent energy savings.

We identified the need for the State to help with the legal structures and develop a clear legal model to have standardised procedures and facilitate this taking place in both the public and private sector. There is a role for the State in renewable heating and it can try to lead the market in that regard. It would be desirable to open public procurement to renewable heating, which can be an attractive option in some parts of the country. It is hard for renewable heating, with biomass as the main option, to be competitive with gas but parts of the country are not on the gas network and there may be a reasonably high demand for energy. In those cases it can be a competitive option and there should be more consideration of it from the public sector.