Written answers
Thursday, 13 July 2023
Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Renewable Energy Generation
Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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187. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to outline the plans his Department has to communicate to the public the importance of micro-generation such as solar panels on dwellings to citizen and societal resilience in the event of a cyberattack on the State’s energy facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35223/23]
Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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188. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment whether his Department is, as a matter of urgency, prioritising solar for all dwellings, given its capacity to provide resilience in the event of a cyberattack on the energy system; such plans to include easy-to-apply-for interest-free loans or generous grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35224/23]
Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 187 and 188 together.
Under the Climate Action Plan 2023, the Government’s Micro-generation Support Scheme (MSS) is targeting 380MW of new renewable generation capacity to contribute to an overall revised target for solar PV of up to 8GW by 2030. The scheme design was supported by detailed economic and policy analysis, as well as public consultation, prior to its approval in December 2021.
Grants are currently available through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) for domestic installations, up to a maximum of €2,400. Since the introduction of the MSS domestic grant in February 2022, the SEAI have seen application levels rise sharply. In 2022, the SEAI received 16,819 applications to the Domestic Solar PV programme, which resulted in grant support for 10,018 homes, at a cost of €24.4m and a total installed capacity of 46.5 MW. This indicates an average installation size of 4.6kW. This is a significant increase from 2021 when 4,077 homes received grant support, with 16.3 MW capacity installed. Moreover, current projections for 2023 indicate an even higher level of applications will be supported.
There are no plans for a dedicated Solar PV loan scheme but a residential retrofit loan scheme is in development which will provide loans for solar as part of deep retrofit upgrade to a home. This residential retrofit loan guarantee scheme will be the first consumer-focused guaranteed loan of its kind in Ireland. It is expected that the loan guarantee will be in place in Q3 2023.
It should also be noted that maximising consumption of self-generated electricity will provide the most benefit to offset rising electricity costs and shorten the payback period for the investment in the installation of solar panels. Additionally, the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) tariff is now available from all electricity suppliers, offering the opportunity for remuneration for excess renewable electricity exported to the grid. You will need to have a suitable ESB Networks export grid connection to avail of the CEG.
As connections to the grid are co-ordinated by ESB Networks (ESBN), my Department does not maintain oversight. However, it is understood that Microgenerators are equipped with protective devices which, for safety purposes, switch them off if the electricity supply is off or de-energised. Use of a generator for standby requires a special type of installation on which your Safe Electric Electrician can advise.
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