The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has reported 38,000 home energy upgrades, supported through Government funded grant schemes, for the first nine months of 2024.
This marked an increase of 11% on the number of upgrades for the same time last year, which the SEAI said showed continued momentum in home retrofitting.
Government expenditure across all schemes reached €279m, an increase of 34% on 2023.
Of the homes upgraded, 5,255 were energy-poor homes which benefitted from totally free energy upgrades.
The SEAI said a total of 48,300 applications were processed across all schemes, up 3% over the same period in 2023, while 38,000 property upgrades were completed.
Meanwhile, over 15,000 homes were upgraded to a BER B2 or higher, up 24% over the same time last year. while over 5,255 upgrades for energy poverty qualifying households, up 26% on the same time in 2023.
Dr Ciaran Byrne, Director of National Retrofit at SEAI, said that as has been the case for some time now solar PV is proving a very attractive technology for homeowners.
He noted that while application levels in some of the schemes have been somewhat flat in the most recent quarter, there has also been a general uplift in application levels towards the end of the quarter and into the fourth quarter.
"This is likely because during the summer months homeowners focus is often elsewhere. It is only when the colder weather arrives that homeowners focus tends to return to retrofit," he added.
The Government, Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and SEAI have taken several actions during 2024 designed to increase homeowner demand and supply chain participation.
These include: a new phase of SEAI's multi-annual marketing and communications campaign, new supports for homeowners availing of the Enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme, and a new training incentive for heat pump installers.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan said the country's retrofitting programme continues to expand which means that more and more people are waking up in warmer, more efficient and healthier homes every year.
