Programme Launched to Scale Up the Deep Retrofit of Irish Homes
- Tipperary Energy Agency has secured significant EU funding for its domestic retrofit programme SuperHomes Ireland.
- The SuperHomes 2030 project aims to support the scaling up of the deep retrofit of Irish homes.
- Finance and poor information main barriers to home energy retrofits.
Tipperary Energy Agency has secured significant EU funding to further the development of its domestic retrofit programme, SuperHomes Ireland. SuperHomes 2030 – supported by the EU Horizon 2020 programme – commenced in Tipperary this week and will run for three years.
Aim of SuperHomes 2030
The main aim of SuperHomes 2030 is to support the scaling up of deep renovation in Ireland, as well as supporting and engaging with other retrofit programmes across Europe. It will build on the experience and track record of the SuperHomes Ireland programme which has retrofitted hundreds of Irish homes since 2015 and will address the financial and information barriers of retrofit for homeowners.
Paul Kenny, CEO of Tipperary Energy Agency said: “The new programme for government will undoubtedly be focussing on how the carbon emissions from our homes can be substantially decreased. The Government’s 2019 climate action plan outlines their objective for retrofitting 500,000 homes by 2030. Climate ambitions are easily written on paper. Delivering ten times the current retrofit activity will be hugely challenging. For these targets to be realised a significant investment is needed in the supply chain. With the commencement of Superhomes 2030, supported by the EU, some of these steps can be taken in advance of the announcement of the national retrofit programme”.
Brian Montayne, ESB eHeat Manager, said: “ESB is focussed on creating a brighter future for the customers and communities we serve by leading the transition to reliable, affordable, low-carbon energy. Over the next decade, will continue to transform our generation portfolio, cutting the carbon intensity of our generation mix by over two thirds. This clean electricity, coupled with renewable technologies and energy efficiency measures, is the catalyst for deep decarbonisation of our built environment. Participation in the SuperHomes 2030 Project offers us a timely opportunity to help stimulate scaling-up of residential energy renovation to meet the ambitions of the Government’s Climate Action Plan. We look forward to sharing our vast utility knowledge with our project partners in creating and supporting a compelling customer proposition.”
Main Barriers to Energy Retrofit
Lack of finance for homeowners is one of a wide spectrum of challenges to be addressed and unlocking the finance barrier is a key objective of the project. One of the partners, a consultancy in sustainability strategy, finance, and policy, will focus on the finance barrier for homeowners. Laura Heuston, Co-Founder of Sustainability Works said “To achieve the ambitious targets set out in the national climate action plan will require decisions by hundreds of thousands of citizens to invest in retrofitting their homes – using savings, loans or other innovative financial solutions. We are excited to be supporting SuperHomes 2030 on the design and delivery of the consumer finance element of the project and look forward to exploring this with lenders across the Irish market in the coming months.”
As well as Tipperary Energy Agency, ESB and Sustainability Works, other partners in the project are The European Heat Pump Association and Limerick Institute of Technology, who will all come together to address the main challenges of scaling up domestic deep retrofit in Ireland. Project updates will be available on www.superhomes.ie
