Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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466. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the details and county location of capital projects announced by his Department in March, April, May and to date in June 2017. [29778/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The most significant component of my Department's capital expenditure for the timeframe requested in 2017 is in respect of the Better Energy Homes and Better Energy Warmer Homes schemes which are administered on behalf of my Department by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) under the Better Energy Programme.

The Better Energy Warmer Homes (BEWH) scheme delivers a range of energy efficiency measures, free of charge, to low income households vulnerable to energy poverty that meet the defined eligibility criteria. The scheme is delivered through a combination of SEAI appointed Community Based Organisations (CBOs), augmented by a panel of private contractors in order to ensure national coverage. The measures available include draught proofing, attic insulation, lagging jackets for hot water tanks, low energy light bulbs, cavity wall insulation and energy advice.

The Better Energy Homes (BEH) scheme provides a financial incentive to private homeowners who wish to improve the energy performance of their homes. Fixed grants are provided towards the cost of a range of measures including attic insulation, wall insulation, heating systems upgrades, solar thermal panels and accompanying Building Energy Rating (BER). Grants typically cover about a third of the overall cost to the homeowner.

In respect of the BEH scheme the total grant paid in each month was €1.117m in March, €1.449m in April and €1.638m in May. In respect of the BEWH the total grant amount paid in each month was €1.97m in March, €1.599m in April and €2.239m in May.

I have provided details of the number of homes upgraded under each of the schemes per county in March, April and May in the following table. The number of homes upgraded in June will not be available until SEAI report on their monthly progress in early July.

The Better Energy Communities scheme aims to encourage community based partnerships to improve the thermal and electrical efficiency of the building stock and energy poor homes and facilities, encouraging the implementation of deeper and more technically and economically challenging measures. These partnerships can be between the public and private sectors, domestic and non-domestic sectors, commercial and not-for-profit organisations and energy suppliers. The community and business supports leverage considerable additional private investment. Projects are typically based across a number of counties so it is not possible to report on a county by county basis. However a total of €26m will be granted to these projects in 2017.

The Warmth and Wellbeing pilot scheme provides free energy efficiency upgrades to the homes of people in the pilot area who meet the eligibility criteria. The scheme is designed to test the benefits that improved home energy efficiency can have on the health of people living with a chronic respiratory disease. To date in 2017 there have been 124 homes upgraded in Dublin. These upgrades have cost €1.266m.

In addition to the above schemes, my Department also provided funding for the Landfill Remediation Grant Scheme. This scheme was established in order to deal with the specific issue of the remediation of closed, licensed, local authority-operated landfills, and in recognition of the fact that local authorities would not have sufficient resources to fund the full cost of this remediation. Details of the funding provided are set out in the following table.