The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has today (Wednesday, January 15) published its end of year review, to highlight the progress and investment made in 2024 towards delivering Ireland’s clean energy transition.
2024 marked a record year of progress for SEAI, with almost €616 million invested in projects across homes, communities, businesses, and public sector organisations.
This reflects a 13% increase on 2023 activity.
Key SEAI highlights in 2024 include:
- 54,000 home energy upgrades with over €420 million in support, including more than 7,700 homes in energy poverty upgraded;
- Over 3,500 businesses approved for more than €62 million in grant support;
- Over €52 million grant aid for 12,000 electric vehicles and 15,400 residential EV chargers;
- Energy research supported with €22 million awarded to 42 new innovative projects;
- Over €61 million capital funding provided to major public sector pathfinder building upgrade projects and 87 new public sector partnerships signed;
- Launch of a new, rapid approval Business Energy Upgrade Scheme;
- Publication of key energy statistics, projections and insights supporting national policymaking.
CEO of SEAI, William Walsh said: “Due to strong government support in 2024, SEAI delivered a significant increase in financial supports and advisory services to householders, communities, businesses, and public bodies.
“2024 was a record year for home energy upgrades, with more than 54,000 property upgrades completed, including free upgrades of more than 7,700 energy poor homes.
“Of the total upgrades, almost 22,000 achieved a B2 rating or higher, and 3,609 included heat pumps.
“Access to finance significantly improved with the launch of the low interest Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme and the extension of retrofit schemes under the government’s Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme,” he added.
This scheme applies to homes damaged due to the use of defective concrete blocks containing excessive amounts of mica or pyrite.
In 2024, SEAI approved over €62 million in grant support to over 3,500 businesses. These supports included: energy audit vouchers; training programmes in Energy Efficient Design; the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat; grants for non-domestic microgeneration; and the newly launched Business Energy Upgrade Scheme.
Across the public sector SEAI delivered over €61 million capital funding to major pathfinder projects, and 87 new public sector partnerships were signed with SEAI.
William Walsh continued: “SEAI is at the heart of Ireland’s clean energy transition, and it is hugely encouraging to see strong engagement with Ireland’s decarbonisation journey by householders and businesses, in communities and across the public sector.
“But collectively we can and must do more. As it stands, Ireland’s emissions will exceed targets in the first carbon budget, meaning we still need to rapidly increase the rate of change to deliver on these legally binding targets.
“Solutions are in our grasp if we have the collective appetite.”
SEAI on policy
In addition to the delivery of a significant volume of grants and training programmes in 2024, SEAI has said that it also delivered several detailed policy insights.
These include breaking down Ireland’s fuel mix and energy use patterns, to projecting Ireland’s future energy use and producing an associated risk analysis.
The detailed datasets are used by policymakers to support evidence-based policy development, which the SEAI said will be critical in bridging the gap between current emissions and 2030 targets.
William Walsh concluded: “Ireland has set a strong legal basis and significant momentum that we must now leverage.
“The incoming government comes at a time where we require a redoubling of effort to realise the urgent change needed to move away from fossil fuels.
“The challenge may seem daunting, but we must focus on the combined environmental, economic, social and health benefits to propel us forward.
“It will mean cleaner air, less energy poverty, enhanced energy security, and a safer, healthier Ireland for future generations,” he concluded.
Actions in 2024
Some of the key actions taken by SEAI in 2024 include:
- Delivered 54,000 property upgrades, including almost 22,000 B2 upgrades, more than 7,700 free energy upgrades in energy poor homes, and 3,609 heat pumps installed;
- Opened SEAI retrofit schemes to homes affected by defective concrete blocks and commenced the Traditional Home Retrofit Pilot project;
- Supported the launch of the government’s Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme;
- Supported 681 homes and 195 non-domestic energy upgrade projects through the Community Energy Grant programme through grants of €41 million;
- Supported the publication of 170,694 domestic and more than 5,750 non-domestic building energy ratings, a record year since BERs were first introduced.
- Approved grant offers of €18.3 million to 1,350 businesses, supporting over 130MWp of commercial solar PV installations;
- €61 million capital support delivered through SEAI Pathfinder representing a total investment of €120 million building upgrade projects in the public sector;
- Offered more than 12,000 electric vehicle (EV) grants and more than 15,400 EV residential charger grants. Introduced new grant for electric mopeds and motorbikes;
- Supported the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) in distributing the first capital grant scheme for development of indigenous biomethane from anaerobic digestion;
- €22 million awarded to 42 research and innovation projects across diverse energy themes.