Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As part of an enhanced package of SEAI retrofit supports, the heat pump grant has increased significantly, with grant support for an air-to-water heat pump of up to €6,500. For homeowners undertaking a deep retrofit under the national home energy upgrade scheme or the community energy grant scheme, additional grant support is available towards required heating system upgrades, as well as a bonus payment of €2,000 to eligible homeowners. This equates to a significant total potential grant of up to €10,500.

The SEAI is also working on a residential heat pump and heat loss indicator research study with a scope involving up to 1,000 homes to test the performance of heat pumps across homes with a higher level of heat loss than is currently permitted by the SEAI in order to qualify for grant support. The pilot is open to homeowners wishing to participate and the SEAI has indicated that results from participating homes are expected next year. Pending the findings of the study, this could allow heat pumps to be installed in many more homes that currently are not deemed eligible for grant support.

The national heat study undertaken by the SEAI at the request of my Department contains the detailed analysis that is informing the development of options, policies and measures to decarbonise the heating and cooling sectors by 2050. The study considered a number of potential decarbonisation options for a wide range of dwelling and business types. This included the use of liquid biofuels, solid biomass, biogases and other technologies such as heat pumps and district heating networks.

The recommendation of the heat study is that heat pumps are the optimal decarbonisation path for domestic heating systems, with district heating also being a competitive option that can be widely deployed. Up to 0.7 TWh of heating will also be provided by biomethane. It should be noted that there is a limited supply of bio-based liquid fuels, which would account for only a small fraction of our current fossil fuel use. Any incentive to encourage the use of these scarce heating resources is likely to displace the carbon savings in other sectors. Therefore, no steps are being taken at this time to promote the use of biofuel boilers in the heat sector.

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