Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey has initiated a major grants scheme to encourage householders to convert their homes to use renewable heat technologies.
Homeowners will receive grants worth several thousand euro towards the purchase of wood chip stoves and boilers, solar energy panels and pumps for collecting underground heat. These would be to replace conventional non-renewable energy sources.
Up to €27 million will be spent on the scheme, which was agreed in last year's budget. It is part of a broader scheme providing €65 million for conversion to renewable energy in homes, businesses and transport. It will operate over a five-year period and according to the department could convert 10,100 homes to the use of renewable energy.
The "Greener Homes" scheme will allow individual householders receive some €4,200 if they are installing wood chip or pellet boilers, €1,100 for wood chip or pellet stoves, €4,000 to €6, 500 for pumps designed to use energy from soil or air, and €300 per square metre for solar panels, up to a limit of 12 square metres.
Mr Dempsey said yesterday that by its final year, it is expected to save energy equivalent to 54,000 barrels of oil per annum and 23,000 tonnes of Co2 per annum. "This is the equivalent to meeting 100 per cent of the heating needs of 7,100 homes from renewable energy, or removing 6,700 cars off the road." Mr Dempsey said yesterday that despite the low running costs of renewable energy systems, the cost of equipment and installation had put many people off.
"This scheme recognises the contribution that individual householders want to make in reducing energy demand, and will provide concrete support for them to make the switch to low cost, low emission heating systems."
He said he had been very impressed since becoming Minister with the number of households who wanted to play a part in improving the environment. "This scheme recognises the contribution that individual householders want to make in reducing energy demand, and will provide concrete support for them to make the switch to low cost, low emission heating systems," he said.
There had been almost 1,200 inquiries to his department since the scheme was first mooted from members of the public and renewable energy suppliers.
Those who have already made inquiries will now be sent details by post or e-mail.
The package will also provide funding for a wood chip/pellet boiler programme for small to medium scale enterprises, Combined Heat and Power (a process in which electricity is generated on-site and the heat from that generation process is captured and also used), and a biofuels capital grants programme to underpin a €205 million excise relief programme.
Details of the scheme and application forms are available on the Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) website (www.sei.ie) from today.