Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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142. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the retrofitting schemes presently available for old houses and following budget 2021; the details of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31224/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The SEAI operates a number of energy efficiency upgrade schemes on behalf of my Department.These schemes include partial grants for individuals that can afford to contribute to the cost of upgrades as well as schemes that provide free energy efficiency improvements for people who are in receipt of certain welfare payments. Information on the grant levels available by scheme is available from the SEAI on 1850 250 204 or their website at .

The Programme for Government and the Climate Action Plan set ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, including our homes, with targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2/cost optimal equivalent and to install 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings over the next 10 years.

SEAI grant schemes will be a central element of the Government’s approach to achieving our national retrofit targets. Budget 2021 provided €221.5 million in capital funding for residential and community retrofit programmes next year to be funded by my Department through the SEAI. This represents an additional €100 million, or 82% increase, on the 2020 allocation and is the largest amount ever in the budget for the schemes. A further €65 million has been provided for retrofitting the social housing stock through the Vote of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Of the €221.5 million allocated to my Department:

- €109 million is allocated to provide free upgrades for lower income households;

- €112.5 million will be spent on expanding existing SEAI grant schemes and introducing new schemes, including

- The National Retrofit Scheme (B2 package scheme) which will facilitate the deeper renovation of homes to BER B2. A second strand of the National Retrofit Scheme will support One-Stop-Shops, Residential Service Providers, Employers, Financial Institutions, registered Housing Associations and Local Authorities who wish to participate in delivering energy efficiency upgrades to homes. The first call for projects under this scheme was launched on 25 September;

- Anew Heat Pump Ready Homes Scheme targeting homes that are suitable for the installation of heat pumps with grant incentives;

- Anew Community Activation scheme focused on supporting small-scale, capacity-building projects, pilots and feasibility studies and in particular supporting Sustainable Energy Communities.

It is estimated that next year, in total, SEAI residential and community schemes will deliver over 29,000 retrofits including approximately 8,000 to a B2 level and support over 8,500 direct and indirect jobs.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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It is my intention that communities all over the country should be able to generate electricity and reap the benefits in their own localities from the sale of that electricity. In that regard, I aim to ensure the delivery of approximately 100 community electricity generation projects by 2030.

The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) will be the main driver in the delivery of this objective. Last month I announced that seven community projects had filled the allocated community capacity in the first commercial auction under the scheme. In future onshore RESS auctions, there will be additional capacity allocated to the community category and I expect that only fully community-owned projects will be eligible.

In order to ensure an adequate pipeline of such projects I have allocated an additional €3 million in capital funding in Budget 2021 for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) to stimulate locally-owned community energy projects. This funding will enable SEAI to deploy a range of capacity-building supports including information dissemination, trusted intermediary and advisor services, and financial supports such as enabling grants.

The SEAI has commenced assessing the next wave of community projects through the Sustainable Energy Community network. The initial call has already identified circa 20 of the more mature projects for immediate support. A further wave of projects has been identified for later support. Already SEAI has set up a dedicated telephone number, email address and website resources to facilitate further community empowerment.