Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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161. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of businesses that have been supported through energy efficiency grants in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32938/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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My Department, through schemes administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), provides various supports to enterprises which can assist these sectors in increasing their energy efficiency and lowering their carbon emissions. There has been a high uptake, in particular, of the community energy grants and the support scheme for energy audits by SMEs.

The following table outlines the number of businesses that have been supported through energy efficiency grants.

Number of businesses (includes all non domestic applicants) paid under SEAI programmes

The Support Scheme for Energy Audits (SSEA) provides support up to a maximum of €2,000 per business site (maximum of 3 sites) to cover the costs of a typical energy audit. The scheme provides support for SMEs to carry out energy audits, encouraging them to implement the energy saving measures identified. It is open to all public and private sector organisations that have an annual energy expenditure of €10,000 or more, and are not already required to carry out an energy audit under the Energy Efficiency Directive.

The Business Energy Upgrades Scheme (BEUS) has been designed for greater accessibility to support small and medium enterprises in Ireland. This scheme is open to all businesses, public sectors bodies, societies and charities.

The Community Energy Grant is a grant support for cross-sectoral projects including homes, businesses and other non-domestic applicants. Typically around 60% of total scheme funding is for non-domestic.

The Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) is a grant support investment in renewable heating systems using heat pumps. An operational support tariff over 15 years for new installations or installations that currently use a fossil fuel heating system and convert to using biomass or anaerobic digestion heating systems.

The Non-Domestic Microgen Scheme provides financial assistance to help businesses and other sectors to install solar PV panels to generate electricity on site. Grants are available for systems up to a maximum of €2,400 for installations of up to 6kWp.

The SEAI support schemes are kept under regular review to ensure their effectiveness.

There are a broader range of enterprise supports available that assist businesses with energy and climate initiatives, with funding from a variety of sources (not just the SEAI). Further information on the broader supports can be found on the “Climate Toolkit for Business” website: www.climatetoolkit4business.gov.ie/next-steps-and-further-information/.