Energy efficiency: Just 19 firms signed up for scheme to retrofit up to 70,000 homes
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland did admit that global supply chain issues were also having an impact on materials.
Just 20 firms retrofitting around 500 homes annually will be registered as "one-stop shops" for the national energy efficiency programme by the end of this year, despite ambitious targets to do 70,000 homes by 2026.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), tasked with overseeing the mass environmental transformation of buildings to become more energy-efficient, admitted that the plans were "ambitious" but insisted they were achievable.
A number of TDs and Senators expressed doubts and concerns about the ramping up of the €8bn scheme announced by the Government in February, with a mere two firms currently signed up as so-called "one-stop shops" to carry out work on homes to bring them to modern environmental standards.
The SEAI said that although there are currently just two firms approved, there are applications to bring that number to 19, with an ambition for 20 to be in place by the end of this year.
The companies registered as one-stop shops — guiding homeowners through steps such as applying for grants, home energy assessments, and finance — managed around 500 homes in 2021, the body told the committee. The SEAI did admit that global supply chain issues were also having an impact on materials.
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The Climate Action Plan sets out targets including the installation of 600,000 heat pumps, 200,000 of which will be in new homes, and 400,000 will be retrofitted into existing homes.
It also includes 500,000 B2 Building Energy Rating (BER) home upgrades. BER ratings were first introduced as a compulsory measure 13 years ago as a way to measure energy efficiency in homes. Half of the €8bn allocated is ringfenced for vulnerable and energy-poor households.
TD Alan Farrell said he was concerned about the targets being met. "We are aiming for 65,000 per annum once we are ramped up.
"There’s a significant gap there. Perhaps we have been too ambitious based on the size of the sector, notwithstanding concerns relating to supply chains. 19 firms isn’t enough," he said.
SEAI director of national retrofit, Dr Ciaran Byrne, said that the 65,000 or 70,000 by 2026 or 2027 would be "cruising altitude" and that while the targets were ambitious, growth had to come organically. The SEAI's experience "has told us you want to grow the market in a balanced way", he said.
Having clear policy direction and finance meant that two of the biggest concerns of the industry have been assuaged.
"We believe the target is a stretch but achievable, and we will continue to grow the one-stop shops...there’s no upper limit," he said.
SEAI head of the community and national retrofit department, Brian O'Mahony, said that 20 one-stop shops by the end of the year would be able to cope with current demand.
"We’ll actually have to see how we move through the next couple of years. But by the end of the year, if we had 20 one-stop shops operating, and the applications given to us now give us comfort that we are going to achieve that easily, we would be able to meet the demand that is there at the moment, and what we have seen in the last quarter."
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