In May 2023 Government announced Energy Efficiency Grant scheme supports investment in technologies and equipment, with 50% of eligible costs up to a maximum grant of €5,000, to reduce the impact of enterprises on the environment and to increase competitiveness.
Those eligible are businesses employing between 1 and 50:
- who have undertaken a Green for Micro, GreenStart or recent energy audit by a SEAI registered energy auditor and who are not currently clients of Enterprise Ireland/IDA
- who are established, registered, and operate within the area of the Local Enterprise Office
- where the turnover is in excess of €30,000 annually and the business is trading in excess of 6 months.
Ineligible businesses include those that:
- Are operating soley from a domestic/home based office
- Are operating in he coal or steel sector
- Are active in the primary agricultural, fishery or aquaculture sectors
- Are involved in activities the Local Enterprise Offices considers as ineligible or as involving an unacceptable reputational risk including gambling, adult entertainment, tobacco and unauthorised cannabis products.
Eligible costs include Triple E registered products including:
- Meters (electricity, gas,diesel, oil, water, steam and loggers) and installation costs
- Smart energy controls e.g., heating, cooling, lighting, automatic on/off systems, parasitic load controls
- Upgrade lighting to LED (only as part of a package of eligible cost measures)
- Replacement/upgrade with more energy efficient system e.g., heat pumps (including air, water and ground source) for manufacturing heating processes
- Heat recovery
- Small wind and hydro subject to feasibility assessment
- Equipment (>10 years) replacement/upgrade such as refrigeration unit, electric steam boiler, electric oven, industrial dishwasher, engineering equipment
- System components upgrades such as variable speed drives, pumps, fans, condensers, extraction systems, cold room doors.
Ineligible costs include:
- Solar panels
- Biomass boilers ans anaerobic digestors
- Insulation and heat pumps for space heating
- Activities related to fossil fuel e.g., fossil fuel condenser boiler
- Software platform costs, specifically for subscription and on-going support and maintnance costs.