Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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95. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the announced scheme to install solar panels on all schools. [10585/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has a strong record with respect to sustainable energy in school buildings and this performance has been recognised at both National and International level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in Design and Specification.

Schools designed and built in accordance with the Department’s schools technical guidance documents, have been achieving A3 Building Energy Ratings since 2009, with current schools typically achieving up to 20% higher energy performance and 25% better carbon performance than required by the current Building Regulations. In addition, 10% of primary energy is provided via photovoltaics and infrastructure provision for electric vehicle charging.

As the Deputy is aware, Budget 2023 provided for the provision of funding from the Climate Action Fund in relation to the provision of Photovoltaic Panels in schools up to 6KW output.

This is really positive news for our schools and will assist with their energy needs and costs along with supporting the decarbonisation of our school buildings.

My officials are working closely with colleagues in the Department of Environment, Climate and Communication in relation to the arrangements for this multi-annual scheme and details will be announced in the shortest timeframe possible.  

As part of planning for the rollout of this multi-annual scheme, the capacity surveys of the school system that are currently underway will also include obtaining up to date data on the number of schools that have solar panels currently.   This is important preparatory work in planning for the rollout of this multi-annual scheme.   The provision of the solar panels will be fully funded for schools. 

More generally in relation to climate action, the Department of Education and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications established a jointly funded pathfinder programme, which is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and the Planning and Building Unit in my Department. Support is also provided from Limerick Clare ETB. The programme is being used to evaluate and demonstrate the approach to energy retrofit and carbon reduction in the schools’ sector. The 2023/24 Pathfinder with 10 schools is jointly funded with a targeted budget of €40 million.

This government-funded energy retrofit pathfinder programme will target energy use and CO2 emission reduction by 51%, testing deep retrofit and low carbon heating solutions.

The pathfinder is paving the way for, and informing, a much larger schools national programme for decarbonisation and retrofit and will play a key part in meeting delivery of the Climate Action Plan.

To date 48 school projects across Ireland have been completed with an additional 16 schools currently at various stages of progress undergoing decarbonisation upgrades to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B with renewable heating systems. The funding programme to deliver these projects is almost €105m to date.

As part of commitments under the Government’s Climate Action Plan, my Department will complete its decarbonisation pathway roadmap to meet 2030 and 2050 targets for the schools sector by end of this year.