Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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133. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount of the Energy Transformation Programme that was allocated to decarbonising electricity in Budget 2021 and 2022, respectively; and the breakdown across each programme subhead by current and capital funding in tabular form. [61526/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Current and Capital allocations to the Energy Transformation Programme in Budgets 2021 and 2022 are shown below:

The 2022 allocation which represents a 17% increase for my Department over 2021 includes €10 million from the Exchequer to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) solar PV grant scheme. This is an increase on the €8 million capital allocation for 2021.

Budget 2022 also commits €202 million from carbon tax revenues to fund the SEAI residential and community retrofit schemes, and an allocation of €31 million for energy efficiency and renewable energy schemes in businesses and the public sector. Decarbonisation of electricity is achieved by the inclusion of solar PV as one of a range of measures supported under these schemes.

The detailed current and capital allocations in 2022 are being finalised as part of my Department's annual business planning process. The final Programme allocations will be included in the Revised Estimates Volume to be published later this month.

It is worth noting however that decarbonisation of electricity is not only funded through my Department's Vote. This year, the PSO levy is entirely related to renewable electricity supports, including the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS), to support our national energy policy objectives. The RESS is the Government’s flagship programme to deliver on our renewable electricity targets by providing support to renewable electricity projects through competitive auctions. The RESS will be the main measure in achieving our Climate Action Plan 2021 target of reducing emissions for the electricity sector to between 2 and 4 MtCO2eq by 2030.