Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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532. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has plans in place or is considering plans to support the introduction of environmentally friendly and energy efficient methods of heating or generation of electricity, such as biomass fuels and wood pellet burning, for schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40321/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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All new technologies and approaches to sustainable energy efficiency are tested to ensure compatibility with school design and operational requirements. Successful and repeatable results are then incorporated into all new school designs and refurbishments.

In 2006 the Department of Education & Skills commenced a unique project in relation to biomass energy use in schools to evaluate the suitable application and performance and compatibility of biomass systems. The evaluation process included school heating requirements in terms of heating demand characteristics, controls, reliability, fuel storage and maintenance and operation and customer satisfaction. The evaluation of the 14 sites that formed the Biomass Deployment Pilot Programme from 2007 to 2009 met the overall objective in that it trialled a number of boiler types for integration into a representative sample of educational buildings which included both new and existing structures.

The project was assessed by independent consultants. The pilot highlighted the positive and negative aspects in the challenges of successfully integrating biomass into the school stock. This was not achieved without some issues and the overall level of satisfaction was rated at approx. 56%. The study found that biomass boilers can provide an efficient and renewable form of heating in schools but cannot be deemed an exact fit. It is also considered that it will prove difficult to match the small schools in the country with biomass heating on an operational and costs basis. The study found that as reflected in the satisfaction rating, biomass systems can require a significant amount of management input on site to ensure that they operate at optimum level and provide reliable heating to the school.

One outcome from the project highlighted the potential market for Energy Supply Companies (ESCO) to provide a heat contract to schools based on biomass heating, where the ESCO finances, operates and maintains the system and sells heat to the school. The Department also makes allowances for same in all new school designs via our Technical Guidance Documents, thus ensuring that there are no barriers to an ESCO being developed on a new school site.

The potential for renewables in schools is under continued review by my Departments Energy Research Programme with continued research and by monitoring improvements in technology and the market place.