Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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9. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when he expects a system of feed-in tariffs to be implemented in respect of electricity generation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6099/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) operate a grant scheme to help domestic customers who install rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) equipment on homes built and occupied before 2011. Details of eligibility criteria and how to apply are set out on the SEAI website. To date 4,810 applications have received grant support under the scheme with €11.75 million spent to date, saving approx. 4.5kT CO2 per annum. €7 million of Exchequer funding for the Scheme has been provided for 2021. The Programme for Government commits to prioritising the development of micro-generation of electricity primarily for self-consumption, letting people sell excess power back to the grid by July 2021. A Micro-Generation working group, chaired by my Department, is developing an enabling framework for micro-generation which tackles existing barriers and establishes suitable supports within relevant market segments. Micro-generators will primarily serve their own electricity consumption needs, but will be able to receive a payment for excess electricity exported back to the grid. The proposed support mechanism is outlined in a public consultation on this Department’s website at www.gov.ie which is open for submissions until 18th February 2021.

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) published a Roadmap for the Clean Energy Package’s Electricity and Renewables Directives in March last year, which provides for a public consultation on the regulatory framework for  prosumer development this year. The document is available on the CRU website www.cru.ie