ECTC were successful in securing funding from SEAI across two separate schemes in 2019.

Better Energy Communities Scheme

Deep Retrofit Pilot Program.

Better Energy Communities Scheme: The retrofits completed across this scheme were carried out on 3 commercial properties which included the new Sola Energy Solutions new state of the art show rooms in Templemore.

45 homes from the local communities and 8 fuel poor homes from the local communities all benefited from the grant scheme in 2019.

There was a total investment of €1.1 million in the county 0with 47% contributed from SEAI Grant schemes.

The total energy savings for the projects was a staggering 750,000kW  keeping Tipperary well on track to help Ireland hits its kW saving targets for 2030.

Deep Retrofit Pilot Program.

Launched in 2018 ECTC were successful in obtaining funding for 10 Deep retrofits across our member communities for 2019/20.

The aim of this program was to raise BER levels across the building stock of Ireland to A levels with 50% grant assistance available to home owners.

526 homes were completed across the country but not with our some troubling times along the way.

The programs finances were depleted substantially earlier than predicted and the program was suspended ,leaving hundreds of home owners in limbo. Many had begun works ,moved out of their homes into rented accommodation and invested heavily in their projects with the knowledge that their application for funding was relatively secure.

Through a major media campaign on national and local level and lobbying of the Department of the Environment by our project coordinator and directors the stakeholders were successful in convincing Minister Bruton to over turn the decision and inform SEAI to  continue with the program .

These homes were completed across 2019/2020 with some delays experiences due to the Covid-19 crisis.

The program saw an investment in the communities of €823,000 with 50% funding coming from SEAI, providing employment to over 70 people across the contractors and services providers and adjoining services.

There was a total kW saving across the 10 homes of 753,000 kW ensuring fossil fuel dependency is eliminated and a cheaper greener energy bills future will be enjoyed by these house holds for years.

The learnings from this program and experiences of homeowners, contractors, service providers and financial institutions involved in financing of the program have lead to the development of the retrofit pathway for the future program called The National Housing Retrofit Scheme. The aim of this scheme is to retrofit 500,000 homes in Ireland by 2030 with significant carbon reduction for the country.