Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

62. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of homes retrofitted under each scheme in 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63237/22]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

63. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of households that applied for solar PV grants in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63238/22]

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

65. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the total number of homes that have been deep retrofitted since 1 January 2022. [63288/22]

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

66. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated number of homes that still require wall and roof insulation. [63289/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 62, 63, 65 and 66 together.

The National Retrofit Plan, published in November 2021 sets out the Government's approach to achieving the Climate Action Plan targets of upgrading the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2 by the end of 2030.

A key step in implementing the Plan took place in February last year, when the Government launched a package of supports to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades, for warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes, with lower energy bills. Free upgrades are available for households at risk of energy poverty under the Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme.

In recognition of the importance of low-cost but high-impact measures in reducing household energy demand, a special enhanced grant rate of 80% was introduced specifically for attic insulation and cavity wall insulation for all households. This is available to all homeowners across all relevant schemes to urgently reduce energy use and cost as part of the Government’s response to the current exceptionally high energy prices.

Demand across the SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes (including Solar PV) was exceptionally high in 2022. Preliminary figures from SEAI indicate that, as of end-December:

- Almost 49,700 applications for support were submitted to SEAI in 2022, representing a 150% increase on 2021 figures.

- Over 27,700 home energy upgrades were supported in 2022, exceeding the target of 26,940. This represents a 79% increase in outputs year on year. Final details on the outputs, including across the schemes, will be available later this month.

- Of these, over 9,000 upgrades were to a post works Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2 or better, which is double the B2 upgrades supported in 2021.

Among the home energy upgrades completed, there were over 21,500 insulation measures installed across the various schemes. These measures comprised cavity wall, internal wall, external wall and attic insulation measures. The SEAI has estimated that there could be of the order of 500,000 homes that have attic insulation with a thickness of less than 120mm (4-5 inches) of mineral wool and that approximately 162,000 homes have cavity wall construction that could benefit from insulation.

The Solar PV grant scheme under the Micro-generation Support Scheme (MSS) came into operation in February 2022 and built on the success of the previous pilot version of the grant scheme. In 2022, SEAI saw application levels rise sharply to over 16,800 which was more than double the application levels seen in 2021.

My Department is working with SEAI to build on this strong performance across the schemes with a robust pipeline of activity carried forward from 2022 into 2023.