The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has launched an Energy Efficiency Retrofit Fund (EERF) for both the public and business sectors.  Retrofit aims to deliver a major increase throughout this decade in the scale and depth of energy efficiency investments in upgrading existing buildings and facilities.

 Open to both the public and private sector, the key objectives are to make a measurable impact on national energy efficiency targets and to identify energy saving opportunities to facilitate replication of projects. This presents an opportunity for organisations to implement energy saving projects, avail of financial grant assistance and reduce their long-term carbon costs.

 SEAI support is available for buildings, services and facilities upgrades involving ambitious packages of energy efficiency investment actions aimed at achieving ongoing and lasting energy savings. Projects are expected to relate mainly to thermal and electrical energy use in buildings, but suitable projects relating to facilities, processes or transport are also eligible. 

 The projects which are eligible to avail of the scheme must include an effective method for collection of energy use data and verification of savings.  Non-commercial public sector applicants can receive support of up to 80% with the private sector and commercial public sector receiving 35% of project costs. Grant levels are dependent on the nature of the project and on passing criteria set by SEAI.

 Projects of a scale eligible to attract grant support of over €100,000 are particularly encouraged. In general, grant support per project will not be less than €20,000 and will not exceed €500,000.

 Energy Solutions can assist organisations in identifying suitable candidate projects, preparing grant applications and in implementing projects leading to significant and tangible energy and cost savings.