Government funding of €14 million available to businesses for energy efficient buildings

Government grants worth €14 million for businesses carrying out energy efficiency projects have been announced today (Thursday, January 21).

Successful applicants will be in the design phase of planning capital projects for new or existing buildings.

Along with this, in order to qualify for a grant, participants must follow the SEAI (Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland) Excellence in Energy Efficient Design (EXEED) standard and “embed energy efficiency” in the design of their projects.

The grant is open to public and private organisations that are planning an investment project of any scale or complexity.

Announcing the details of the scheme, Minister Eamon Ryan commented:

“Buildings are a major source of CO2 emissions so, to meet our climate goals, we need to be innovative in how we design, build and manage them for optimum energy efficiency.

“The SEAI’s EXEED grant scheme supports designers and builders to be ambitious, and put energy efficiency at the heart of their building and renovation projects. It makes both environmental and economic sense.”

‘Become more efficient, competitive and resilient’

Commenting on the scheme, William Walsh, CEO of SEAI said the scheme ensures that energy performance is considered “at the outset and helps businesses to become more efficient, competitive and resilient”.

“In the last number of years, SEAI has supported 135 projects through SEAI EXEED with CO2 savings averaging 46% for new build projects and 14% for upgrade projects,” Walsh said.

We have seen particular successes in manufacturing, warehousing, leisure and hospitality sectors where significant energy savings have been made.

Amongst the recent recipients of support through this scheme is Aurivo Consumer Foods in Co. Donegal, who received SEAI EXEED certification following the installation of a heat recovery system for their milk pasteurisation process which reduced CO2emissions by 85%.

Stages of the scheme

Phase 1 of the scheme gives grant support for professional fees in the feasibility and planning stage, while phase 2 covers the capital costs.

Grant amounts typically cover over 50% of the pre-investment costs and 30% of the additional capital investment cost involved.

A number of changes have been introduced for SEAI EXEED in 2021, including an increase in grant support available to €1 million per project, acceptance of applications all year round and a longer implementation period for capital works.