Written answers

Tuesday, 24 May 2022

Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Departmental Schemes

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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88. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to provide grants for conversion to hydrotreated vegetable oil from kerosene to enable the de-carbonisation of old housing stock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25698/22]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The SEAI published the National Heat Study on 22 February 2022. The study considered a number of potential decarbonisation options for a wide range of dwelling and business types. This included the use of liquid biofuels including HVO, solid biomass, biogases and other technologies such as heat pumps and district heating networks.  The Study, which was prepared at my Department’s request, contains detailed analysis which will now facilitate the development of options, policies and measures to decarbonise the heating and cooling sectors to 2050. I also expect to be in a position to seek a Government decision in the near future in relation to the introduction of a Renewable Heat Obligation. It would be expected that any Renewable Heat Obligation would place an obligation on the suppliers of fuel that is to be used for heating to ensure a certain proportion of that fuel is renewable. The level of renewable energy that would have to be supplied would be based on a proportion of the fossil fuels supplied. There are a range of renewable energies that could be used to meet the obligation including bioliquids.

Photo of Eoin Ó BroinEoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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89. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the microgeneration support scheme will be established; and when microgenerators will begin receiving payments. [25815/22]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The phased introduction of the Micro-generation Support Scheme (MSS) has begun with the commencement of the MSS domestic solar PV grant on 16 February last, with grant levels up to a maximum of €2,400 available. Under the MSS there is no minimum post-works Building Energy Rating (BER) requirement and homes built pre-2021 are eligible.The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) will extend the solar PV grant to the non-domestic sector for installations up to 6.0kW in July this year.

The Government, in the recently published National Energy Security Framework, announced a number of additional measures including a new targeted €20 million scheme for the installation of Photo Voltaic (PV) panels for households that have a high reliance on electricity for medical reasons.

In February I signed the Regulations (SI 76 of 2022) that create an obligation on suppliers to offer the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) tariff to new and existing micro-and small-scale generators so that they will receive payment for excess renewable electricity they export to the grid, reflective of the market value. I am that some suppliers have advertised their CEG tariff, and eligible micro-generators will start receiving CEG tariff remuneration from 1 July.

Businesses that use a large amount of electricity will benefit most when they maximise self-consumption from their own micro-generation. The financial business case for micro-generation for these high electricity users is already strong.

New installations greater than 6kW up to 50kW will be eligible for a Clean Export Premium (CEP) tariff per kWh exported from their electricity supplier. The CEP will be €0.135/kWh in 2022, fixed for 15 years. It is expected that the CEP will be implemented further to a public consultation on an Implementation Plan by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) in Q3 this year.

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