James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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182. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the position regarding the roll-out of the clean export premium; the date the required payment mechanism will be determined by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3430/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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On the 21st December 2021 the Government approved the Micro-generation Support Scheme (MSS). The Government is developing a framework of supports to enable homes, businesses, farms and communities to install renewable generation for their own consumption and receive a payment for any residual electricity they export to the grid. Micro-generation has an important role to play in empowering and driving engagement and participation. It creates opportunities for domestic, community, farming and small commercial customers to take the first steps towards investment in renewable technologies, which can play a role in shaping electricity demand and decarbonising homes and businesses.

The MSS is targeting support for 380MW of installed micro-generation capacity, to contribute to the target of up to 2.5GW of solar renewables under the Climate Action Plan. Depending on panel size, that equates to over 1 million solar panels, on approximately 70,000 buildings.

Non-domestic applicants will be eligible to receive the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) tariff, for any exported electricity, at a competitive market rate from their electricity supplier. Projects between 6kW and 50kW will receive a Clean Export Premium (CEP) tariff per kWh exported, for a period of 15 years, from their electricity supplier. The CEP will be €0.135/kWh in 2022, which is higher than the current average wholesale electricity price. Any difference between the CEP tariff and wholesale electricity prices will be supported by the Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy. Exported volumes of electricity eligible for the Clean Export Premium (CEP) tariff will be capped at 80% of generation capacity to incentivise self-consumption.

It is expected that the Clean Export Premium (CEP) will commence in the third quarter of 2022, when a payment mechanism will be determined by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU).

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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183. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on a targeted roll-out of sectoral specific grants for microgeneration of wind and solar for SMEs that consume large quantities of energy such as dairy farms and supermarkets as a method of reducing demand on the national grid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3431/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The pending introduction of the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) tariff represents the first phase of a comprehensive enabling framework for micro-and small-scale generators in Ireland that will allow them to receive payment from their electricity supplier for all excess renewable electricity they export to the grid, which reflects the market value of the electricity.The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) published a decision on 1 December 2021 outlining the interim arrangements for implementation of the CEG, including eligibility criteria and remuneration methodology. The CEG will become available upon the transposition of Article 21 of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) into Irish law and will be available to both new and existing micro- and small-scale generators who comply with the CRU decision.

Businesses that use a large amount of electricity, particularly supermarkets, will benefit most when they consume electricity on site from their own micro-generation. The financial business case for micro-generation for these high electricity users is already very strong and the CEG will only benefit the small amount of spilled electricity, if any, that these businesses generate.

The second phase of the enabling framework is the Micro-generation Support Scheme (MSS) which was approved by Government on 21 December 2021 and will open on a phased basis in 2022. Under the MSS, homes, farms, businesses and community organisations generating up to 6.0kW will be eligible for a Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) grant at the same levels as domestic customers (max €2,400), in addition to the CEG. This grant will become available later in 2022.

Solar PV is also one of a range of measures funded under the SEAI Communities Energy Grant Scheme which makes grant funding available to improve the energy efficiency of the building stock, and is open to domestic and non-domestic applications. For farm enterprises, grant supports for solar PV are also available from the Department for Agriculture, Food and Marine, under the Pig and Poultry Investment Scheme as part of the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Schemes (TAMS).