Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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97. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the action his Department is taking to accommodate homeowners in the conversion of existing domestic heating systems, that is, oil burners and boilers to hydrotreated vegetable oil fuel, in view of the fact that it would assist homeowners in retrofitting their homes more feasibly and the conversion to HVO fuel would lead to an immediate reduction in carbon emissions in home heating; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1239/23]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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107. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of matters raised in correspondence by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1351/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 97 and 107 together.

Under Response 17 of the National Energy Security Framework, the Government committed to building on the detailed sectoral analysis of the National Heat Study to develop proposals for regulatory options to accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuels for space and water heating in all new buildings, with limited exemptions such as industrial processes. This is reflected in the ambition set out in the Climate Action Plan.

The Climate Action Plan 2023 includes a range of measures to address the use of fossil fuel in heating systems in buildings. The National Heat Study contains the detailed analysis that is informing the development of options, policies and measures to decarbonise the heating and cooling sectors to 2050. 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, solid biomass, biogases and other technologies such as heat pumps and district heating networks.

The recommendation of the Heat Study is that heat pumps are the optimal decarbonisation path for domestic heating systems, with district heating also being a competitive option that can be widely deployed.

The National Retrofit Plan sets out how the Government will deliver on the targets of retrofitting the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a BER of B2/cost-optimal and installing 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes to replace older, less efficient heating systems by the end of 2030.

The plan is designed to address barriers to retrofit across four key pillars: (i) driving demand and activity; (ii) financing and funding; (iii) supply chain, skills and standards; and (iv) governance. For each pillar, barriers were identified, and time-bound policies, measures and actions were put in place to address them.

A particularly important aspect of the Retrofit Plan was the launch, in February, of a new package of enhanced SEAI retrofit supports. The key measures included:

- A new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme providing increased grant levels towards the cost of a typical deep retrofit to a B2 BER standard; and,

- A new network of registered One Stop Shops to offer a hassle-free, start-to-finish project management service, including access to financing, for home energy upgrades.

Under the SEAI administered schemes, grants for heat pump systems of up to €6,500 are available.

District heating is a proven technology, offering the potential to supply low- and zero-carbon heat to homes, businesses and public buildings from a central source. Significant ramp-up in the deployment of district heating networks will be required to 2030 and beyond. The National Heat Study has identified that district heating could, in time, provide as much as 50% of building heat demand in Ireland. A multi-disciplinary District Heating Steering Group, was established by my Department and met regularly in 2022. The Group has prepared a report that will be brought to Government shortly. The Report will provide recommendations on issues including:

- Supports for the rollout of district heating in Ireland;

- Development of a regulatory framework to protect consumers and suppliers;

- The manner in which national, regional and local planning frameworks encourage and facilitate the development of district heating;

- Development of a roadmap for district heating, informed by the evidence of the National Heat Study;

- Financing mechanisms to support the delivery of district heating projects, including appropriate financial incentives similar to the retrofit grant programmes; and

- Regulatory and legislative tools to enable the rollout of district heating infrastructure.

Liquid renewable fuels may be best used in transport systems that are more difficult to decarbonise and their use should be incentivised in the transport energy market. HGVs and the aviation sector have no alternative for sustainable fuel, unlike the domestic heating for which we can turn to other alternatives. Ireland imports substantial quantities of bioethanol and biodiesel in order to meet requirements under the Biofuels Obligation Scheme to incorporate biofuels into the transport fuel supply and is likely to continue to have a heavy reliance on imports in the future. Biofuels are a core transitional technology relied upon for the medium-term reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the road transport sector.

One of the key challenges for increasing the supply of biofuels, including HVO, is ensuring sustainability and availability. There is potential for indigenous production to scale up to between 435m and 735m litres of biodiesel/HVO in 2030, but with low recoverable feedstock supplies (potential for 70m litres of biodiesel from indigenous feedstock) reliance on imported feedstocks (Used Cooking Oil (UCO) and tallow) will continue to be high. Supply of UCO is limited and additional demand for it will impact on its cost and may heighten the risk of fuel fraud in global supply chains.