merrion street

The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten T.D. today launched the final consultation on a Renewable Heat Incentive for Ireland to incentivise industrial and commercial heat users to switch to greener technologies that produce heat from renewable sources. Inviting the public to provide feedback to his Department on the Design Options for the Scheme, Minister Naughten said: “This support scheme is aimed at incentivising a switch from fossil fuel based heating systems to renewable heating solutions, which will help Ireland meet its energy and climate change obligations, simultaneously. The promotion of renewable energy can be a driver of inclusive economic growth, creating jobs and enterprise opportunities in the rural economy as outlined in the Action Plan for Rural Development published earlier this week”.

The Minister went on to say “As a rural based T.D., I am fully aware that farmers in the past have explored the potential market opportunities in the bioenergy space, and many have decided not to pursue this avenue until the market was more mature. As a demand side measure, the RHI will aim to give the bioenergy and biomass sector the market in renewable heat production that is needed to encourage farmers to take the next step. However, for this intervention to be successful it is critical that supply-side policies must be aligned with the demand-side measure that my Department is developing”.

Cleaner heat is a part of Ireland's renewable energy policy objective and the introduction of a Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for Ireland is a commitment in the White Paper on Energy and the Programme for Government. The RHI is designed to accelerate our efforts to meet our 12% target of heat derived from renewable energy sources by 2020.

The consultation sets out a series of questions on the detailed design of the scheme, seeking public feedback and suggestions on rules such as timing of support; how payments should be structured; how to deal with different unit size; what sustainability and efficiency criteria to adopt; and a number of other scheme criteria. Members of the public and interested stakeholders can find out how to have their say at http://www.dccae.gov.ie/energy/en-ie/Pages/Consultation/Renewable-Heat-Incentive-Consultation.aspx.

Stakeholder responses to the consultation paper will be reviewed and considered by the DCCAE prior to a final decision on the structure and design of the RHI early in 2017. The closing date for receipt of submissions to the consultation is 3 March 2017. While it is hoped that the Scheme will become available at the end of 2017, this is subject to Government and State Aid clearance.

In conclusion, the Minister added: “The overall RHI scheme will be designed so that it ensures value for money for the taxpayers who are being asked to pay the cost of the RHI subsidy. Therefore, the RHI I am proposing will have a budget cap mechanism and a mechanism to reduce the amount applicants get paid over time built in from the start – so the more you burn, the less you earn”.