Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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75. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his Department's projected number of deep retrofits and heat pump installations that will be required each year to meet his Department’s target of 500,000 deep retrofits and 400,000 heat pumps by 2030. [9860/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Climate Action Plan includes targets to retrofit the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2/cost optimal and the installation of 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes to replace older, less efficient heating systems by end-2030. This represents one of the most ambitious retrofit programmes worldwide and is a core element of the Government's plan to reduce emissions from the residential sector.

In order to reach this target, the Climate Action Plan 2023 includes targets to: retrofit the equivalent of 120,000 dwellings to BER B2 or cost optimal equivalent level and install 45,000 heat pumps in existing dwellings in the period 2019-2025.

For the second half of the decade, targets will ramp up significantly to deliver on average, approximately 75,000 B2-equivalent home upgrades per year from 2026 to 2030 to achieve the overall target by the end of the decade. Final data from the SEAI shows that 27,200 home energy upgrades were delivered last year, exceeding the targeted level.

The National Development Plan and National Retrofit Plan have ring-fenced €8 billion in capital funding to the end of the decade to support the achievement of these objectives.

Budget 2023 has provided an Exchequer allocation of over €356 million in capital funding for SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes (including the Solar PV scheme).This allocation is the highest ever and will deliver over 37,000 home energy upgrades this year including over 13,800 homes to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2 and 6,000 free upgrades under the SEAI free energy upgrade scheme.