Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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231. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to report on SRESS 1; the number of projects which were successful in their applications; the progress and when he anticipates they will be energised; when he anticipates SRESS 2 will take place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42771/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government commits to promoting the Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS) to simplify market access for community owned solar and wind projects.

The SRESS export phase (SRESS 1) is designed for community, SME and farm projects above 50kW to 6MW, offering a simpler route to market, with fixed tariffs for solar and wind, aligning more closely to their experience and the capacity of these sectors. All export projects up to 1MW can also apply to SRESS, and need not be communities, SMEs or farmers.

Through my Department’s continued engagement with Renewable Energy Communities, there is evidence of significant challenges that REC projects may face with the competitive, auction based nature of RESS, along with grid and other barriers to project delivery. Therefore, support for communities for the development of renewable projects has now transitioned to the non-competitive SRESS.

The scheme opened for applications in January. The SRESS application form together with the terms and conditions and a non-technical summary, are available on the Department’s website at www.gov.ie/sress.

Five SME and four community applications have been accepted into the scheme, having confirmed their SRESS letter of offer in recent weeks. My Department is also processing additional community applications that have been received.

The SME projects have until 2029 to energise and the community projects until 2030. However, it is expected that these projects will energise in advance of these dates, as they will not receive any SRESS tariff until they energise.

There are currently no plans for an SRESS 2 as SRESS 1 is still open with plenty of available capacity still left in the scheme.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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232. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to provide a breakdown of the funding provided to MUDs under the community energy grant scheme by property owner type i.e. community organisations, AHBS and REITS; to provide a breakdown of the total amount awarded to each property owner type; to provide a breakdown of the funding drawn down by each property owner type; to provide the average size of the award by each property owner type in tabular form in each of the years 2020 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42837/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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237. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if there is an upper limit to the number of residential units owned by an individual or legal entity when applying to retrofit a MUD under the CEG SEAI scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42932/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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238. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to provide a breakdown of the number of MUDs that were awarded a retrofitting grant under the SEAI’s CEG scheme; the breakdown of the number of units were retrofitted as part of this development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42933/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 232, 237 and 238 together.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) manage a number of residential and community energy upgrade grant support schemes on behalf of my Department. The SEAI operate their schemes within a specified governance framework with a set of rules determining eligibility for grant support. Accordingly, these schemes have terms and conditions in place to ensure the transparent administration of public monies. Achieving this requires that the processes and systems are clear and efficient, and operate in a manner which is fair to all applicants.

The Community Energy Grant scheme is part of the Government's National Retrofit Programme. The primary objective of the scheme is to support and maximise the number of home energy upgrades delivered. This includes upgrades to energy-poor, private, rental and approved housing body homes.

Other objectives include: building capacity by working with project co-ordinators on large-scale and complex projects; supporting cross-sectoral partnership approaches targeting public, private, commercial and community buildings; encouraging the retrofitting of rental properties; helping to develop the retrofit supply chain; building relationships with communities and businesses; and developing community project management capacity.

A number of changes to the scheme guidelines were introduced last year, including: support for projects focused solely on residential upgrades; and improved supports to address the particular challenge of retrofitting multi-unit developments such as flat complexes, including scaffolding and communal areas.

The evaluation of applications to the Community Energy Grant Scheme, as well as the collection of scheme-specific data, are operational matters for the SEAI, an agency under the aegis of my Department. It is suggested that the Deputy contact the SEAI directly in relation to this matter. The SEAI has established a specific email address for queries from Oireachtas members so that such queries can be addressed promptly and in line with the SEAI’s objective to deliver services to the highest standards. The email address is oireachtas@seai.ie.