SEAI’s community energy grant scheme has demonstrated the power of aggregating projects across homes, communities, and commercial buildings. Last year’s national home retrofit pilot helped demonstrated a proof of concept for the OSS approach to home energy upgrades. This addresses some of the key challenges to date, namely, multi-annual funding for contractors, more generous grants for increased measures, and greatly reduced complexity for homeowners. The national roll-out was launched by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in February. All SEAI programmes follow the same principles of establishing clear objectives, focused development, fast deployment, efficient delivery, regular review and refinement, and clearly measured outcomes.

SEAI programmes benefit from our modelling and research capability, which supports the delivery and design of programmes, founded on an evidence base. Our recently published national heat study is a comprehensive analysis of the options for reaching net-zero emissions from the heating sector by 2050. Comprising analysis across all sectors, the study includes key insights to decarbonise the residential sector. This study is informing Government heat policies and will support the evolution of the national retrofit programme, ensuring it is best in class to meet targets.

February’s announcement by the Minister of the new grant rates paves the way for the next wave of residential energy upgrades and sets Ireland on the journey towards our 2030 targets. The new national home energy upgrade scheme offers increased grant levels of up to 50% of the cost for a typical B2 home energy upgrade, up from 30-35%. The scheme offers a hassle-free home energy upgrade with OSSs providing an end-to-end service. This includes surveying the home; designing the upgrades; managing the grant process; helping with access to finance; managing contractor works; and quality assuring the work. Homes owned by private homeowners, non-corporate landlords, and approved housing bodies are eligible for the scheme. Fixed, transparent grants ensure contractors and homeowners alike are clear on their entitlements.

The scheme was developed using design thinking principles, putting the customer at the heart of the journey. We undertook a significant amount of consumer and behavioural analysis to support its development. The new scheme is designed to be scalable and support the achievement of our ambitious targets. The SEAI works closely with contractors and homeowners to ensure their home energy upgrade journey is made even easier.

A key part of the OSS registration is for companies to demonstrate that they have the quality systems and capacity to deliver at scale. Currently, two companies are fully registered as OSSs, having completed due diligence and a further 17 are actively engaged in this process. There will be ample opportunity for smaller contractors, who may not be in a position to register as a OSS, to partner with registered OSSs. This is already happening extensively in the industry. Additionally, the €8 billion allocated in the national development plan to the national retrofit plan sends a clear signal to the market to prepare for increased opportunities and delivery at scale.

Our retrofitting targets represent a decade-long project, one which will build rapidly towards the goals set out. Many of the challenges are clear, such as supply chain capacity, material inflation, homeowner willingness, the rental market, governance and low-cost finance. In particular, I wish to advise that we are closely monitoring supply chains and inflation, and actively engaging with the construction industry, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, education and training boards, ETBs, and the wider retrofit landscape to increase retrofit-related training opportunities. In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, SEAI is collaborating with colleagues in our parent Department and other State agencies to mitigate impacts which will affect all of society. Further details on what we are doing to address these issues are included in the additional material provided.

The benefits of the national retrofit programme far outweigh the costs, particularly when the multiple benefits - financial, economic, employment, health, security of supply, and environmental - are considered. We passionately believe the clean energy transition must happen urgently, and we stand ready to support all of Irish society on this journey. Our approach is based on insights, research, and expertise from two decades of programme delivery. The challenges ahead require us to work at pace and to deliver ever greater results, learnings, and improvements in collaboration with key stakeholders.

I acknowledge the strategic leadership provided by the board of SEAI and pay tribute to the staff of SEAI for their commitment and dedication. In concluding, I thank our colleagues in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications for their ongoing support, particularly in the context of the actions assigned to SEAI under the Climate Action Plan 2021 and the national development plan. I welcome discussion with the committee, and I am happy to answer any questions members may wish to raise.