The Irish government has launched a loan scheme for home energy upgrades, in order to help homeowners make their homes more energy efficient.
The €500 million scheme has been billed as the first of its kind in Ireland. It offers homeowners the opportunity to borrow between €5,000 and €75,000 for terms of up to 10 years to carry out retrofit projects on their homes.
The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland and Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) will oversee the scheme. The funded projects must be carried out by a SEAI registered One Stop Shop, energy partner, or community coordinator.
Grants for heat pumps and solar water heating installations are eligible across all three routes, while solar electricity installations are eligible when the work is carried out by a One Stop Shop or community coordinator. If the work is managed by a SEAI registered energy partner, up to 25% of the grant can be spent on solar panels.
Homeowners can apply through participating finance providers. The scheme promises lower interest rates than those generally available in the market, but rates will differ depending on the provider.
Irish bank PTSB is the first institution to announce participation in the scheme, with rates from 3.55%. The Irish government said AIB, Bank of Ireland, Avant Money and seven credit unions from the Irish League of Credit Unions are expected to join the scheme in the coming weeks.
Popular content
According to government statistics, 48,000 home energy upgrades were supported through SEAI schemes in 2023, up 76% on the year prior and exceeding government targets by 30%.
“This innovative scheme shows how the government, financial institutions and the retrofit sector are working together to deliver climate action that works for people and planet,” said Irish Environment Minister Eamon Ryan. “Access will be simple and speedy with an emphasis on reducing the workload for homeowners accessing both loans and grants.”
The Irish government said it will continue fully funded energy upgrades for those most at risk of energy poverty under its Warmer Homes Scheme.
Ireland has set a target of producing 80% renewable electricity by 2030. In October 2023, the government earmarked around €380 million for the country’s residential and community grant upgrade schemes, which includes solar installations.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.