Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

117. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government for an update on the business energy upgrade scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50831/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In 2024 alone, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) provided grants of over €40 million to over 3,000 businesses significantly supporting energy cost reduction, competitiveness, and emissions reductions. The Business Energy Upgrade Scheme, funded by my Department and administered by the SEAI, is part of a suite of business supports. It opened for applications in November 2024 and offers businesses access to rapid approval grant funding for a range of retrofit measures for buildings such as hotels, offices, retail premises and restaurants. There has been strong activity on the application portal, with a large volume of draft applications (over 550). Typically, the commercial sector requires some time to prepare an application before submitting it.

To date, 176 applications have been approved with a combined total in offers in excess of €3.2 million supporting 313 measures. All 9 measures available under the scheme are represented within this package of applications which is a good initial indicator of the interest in the overall suite of technologies provided. The scheme is critical to supporting a higher rate of commercial building retrofitting and is expected to double the number of commercial building retrofits and heat pumps supported from 2024 to 2025.