2024 marked a record year of progress for SEAI with €616 million in funding invested.

CEO William Walsh says, ‘solutions are in our grasp if we have the collective appetite’.

The funding was invested across homes, communities, businesses, and the public sector. 

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) today published its end of year review, to highlight the progress and investment made in 2024 towards delivering Ireland’s clean energy transition. 2024 marked a record year of progress for SEAI, with almost €616 million invested in projects across homes, communities, businesses, and public sector organisations. This reflects a 13% increase on 2023 activity. 

Key SEAI highlights in 2024 include: 

  • 54,000 home energy upgrades with over €420 million in support, including more than 7,700 homes in energy poverty upgraded.  
  • Over 3,500 businesses approved for more than €62 million in grant support. 
  • Over €52 million grant aid for 12,000 electric vehicles and 15,400 residential EV chargers. 
  • Energy Research supported with €22 million awarded to 42 new innovative projects. 
  • Over €61 million capital funding provided to major public sector pathfinder building upgrade projects and 87 new public sector partnerships signed.  
  • Launch of a new, rapid approval Business Energy Upgrade Scheme. 
  • Publication of key energy statistics, projections and insights supporting national policymaking. 

William Walsh, CEO of SEAI said:

“Due to strong Government support in 2024, SEAI delivered a significant increase in financial supports and advisory services to householders, communities, businesses, and public bodies.

2024 was a record year for home energy upgrades, with more than 54,000 property upgrades completed, including free upgrades of more than 7,700 energy poor homes. Of the total upgrades, almost 22,000 achieved a B2 rating or higher, and 3,609 included heat pumps. Access to finance significantly improved with the launch of the low interest Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme and the extension of retrofit schemes under the Government’s Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme. This scheme applies to homes damaged due to the use of defective concrete blocks containing excessive amounts of mica or pyrite.”

William Walsh added:

“SEAI has responded to the needs of businesses by enhancing and creating supports that specifically address the barriers that businesses, particularly SMEs, face when accessing advice and funding for sustainability projects. In 2024 SEAI approved over €62 million in grant support to over 3,500 businesses. These supports included energy audit vouchers, training programmes in Energy Efficient Design, the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat, grants for non-domestic microgeneration, and the newly launched Business Energy Upgrade Scheme. Across the public sector SEAI delivered over €61 million capital funding to major pathfinder projects, and 87 new public sector partnerships were signed with SEAI.

SEAI is at the heart of Ireland’s clean energy transition, and it is hugely encouraging to see strong engagement with Ireland’s decarbonisation journey by householders and businesses, in communities and across the public sector. But collectively we can and must do more. As it stands, Ireland’s emissions will exceed targets in the first carbon budget, meaning we still need to rapidly increase the rate of change to deliver on these legally binding targets. Solutions are in our grasp if we have the collective appetite.”

In addition to the delivery of a significant volume of grants and training programmes in 2024, SEAI also delivered several detailed policy insights – from breaking down Ireland’s fuel mix and energy use patterns, to projecting Ireland’s future energy use and producing an associated risk analysis. These detailed datasets are used by policymakers to support evidence-based policy development, which will be critical in bridging the gap between our current emissions and our 2030 targets. 

William Walsh concluded:

“Ireland has set a strong legal basis and significant momentum that we must now leverage. The incoming government comes at a time where we require a re-doubling of effort to realise the urgent change needed to move away from fossil fuels. The challenge may seem daunting, but we must focus on the combined environmental, economic, social and health benefits to propel us forward. It will mean cleaner air, less energy poverty, enhanced energy security, and a safer, healthier Ireland for future generations. We have the technical solutions, now it is about winning hearts and minds, incentivising action and making tough choices on regulation and growth.

Courageous, consistent and committed leadership is required across all sectors from decision makers and policymakers to empower individuals, households, motorists, businesses, and the public sector to move away from fossil fuels.  In 2024 we saw how concerted effort can deliver results due to government support and the positive actions of thousands of citizens and businesses. We will now build on this momentum in 2025 to accelerate further progress.” 

SEAI Achievements 2024

National Retrofit / Home Energy Upgrades 

  • Delivered 54,000 property upgrades, including almost 22,000 B2 upgrades, more than 7,700 free energy upgrades in energy poor homes, and 3,609 heat pumps installed. 
  • Opened SEAI retrofit schemes to homes affected by defective concrete blocks and commenced the Traditional Home Retrofit Pilot project. 
  • Supported the launch of the Government’s Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme. 
  • Supported 681 homes and 195 non-domestic energy upgrade projects through the Community Energy Grant programme through grants of €41 million.  
  • Supported the publication of 170,694 domestic and more than 5,750 non-domestic building energy ratings, a record year since BERs were first introduced. 

Business Supports  

  • Excellence in Energy Efficient Design (EXEED) approved grant support to 44 companies totalling €7.2 million. EXEED training to over 150 supply chain professionals. 
  • Support Scheme for Renewable Heat approved 12 new grant and 14 new 15-year tariff supports totalling €10.9 million. 
  • Approved grant offers of €18.3 million to 1,350 businesses, supporting over 130MWp of commercial solar PV installations. 
  • Launched the Business Energy Upgrade Scheme, providing rapid approval for a package of commercial retrofit measures along with technical assistance. 
  • 1,453 audits completed and vouchers redeemed, supporting high quality SME audits.  
  • Energy Academy registrations rose above 10,000, with over 4,000 course certificates issued. SEAI trained over 470 SMEs in Introduction to Energy Management training.  
  • Hosted and presented at events in collaboration with business representative organisations and government bodies with more than 3,300 participants. 
  • Supported and monitored 210 members of the Large Industry Energy Network (LIEN) in reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 434 ktCO2 and validated energy savings of 280 GWh.  
  • Implemented a new Industrial Decarbonisation Partnership approach, with seven LIEN members signed up to date. 
  • Delivered over 40 targeted knowledge sharing and training events to LIEN members including topics such as ISO50001, energy auditing, and decarbonisation of industry. 

Public Sector 

  • Concluding 14 Funding Agreements to support public sector national estates across a portfolio of government departments and public bodies.  
  • 87 public sector decarbonisation partnerships signed during 2024, bringing the total to 134.  
  • Conducted 74 public sector staff engagement events with over 3,600 participants. 
  • €61 million capital support delivered through SEAI Pathfinder representing a total investment of €120 million building upgrade projects in the public sector.  
  • Provided financial and technical support to 286 standalone retrofit projects across the HSE national estate, amounting to estimated savings of 6,288 tonnes CO2. 
  • Collaborated with OPW on public sector Reduce Your Use campaign with 163 organisations.  
  • 14 organisations participating in SEAI’s Public Sector ISO50001 Accelerator Programme. 
  • New Monitoring and Reporting system launched, tracking the performance of 348 public bodies against emissions reduction and energy efficiency targets. Public Sector Energy Efficiency Performance Report 2023 published. 

Transport 

  • Offered more than 12,000 electric vehicle (EV) grants and more than 15,400 EV residential charger grants. Introduced new grant for electric mopeds and motorbikes. 
  • Published Commercial EV Fleet Trial report. 

Market Surveillance Authority 

  • 17 market surveillance campaigns and conducted over 300 retailer labelling and product compliance assessments across stores, online sales, and advertising. 

Energy Efficiency Obligations Scheme (EEOS) 

  • 2023 EEOS target year closed out, with over 577 GWh of energy savings achieved. 
  • Launched the Warmer Homes Scheme EEOS pilot, leveraging funding from Obligated Parties. 
  • Achieved ISO9001 Quality Management System certification the scheme. 

Policy Insights 

  • Published Energy in Ireland 2024, the definitive annual data set for 2023, the National Energy Balance 2023, and the National Energy Projections 2024. 
  • Enhancing our national understanding of our energy behaviours through published analysis of Ireland’s Behavioural Energy and Travel Tracker (BETT).  

Renewable Energy 

  • Published Offshore Renewable Energy Technology Roadmap. 
  • Established a new Decarbonised Heat and System Supports department in SEAI supporting citizens and communities, incorporating the new District Heating Centre of Excellence. 
  • Fulfilled the role of Single Point of Contact for Renewable Energy Consenting, providing guidance on licenses and permits for renewable energy projects. Conducted survey of renewable energy consenting in 2023 establishing a baseline of current timeframes. 
  • Supported the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine in distributing the first capital grant scheme for development of indigenous biomethane from anaerobic digestion.   

Communities and Education 

  • Managed the Community Benefit Fund (CBF) register, providing information on over 30 projects including a CBF report and case studies.  
  • Surpassed 900 members of the Sustainable Energy Communities (SEC) network, with 126 new members, 33 applications for Energy Master Plans, 15 SECs facilitated in Solar Meitheal projects, 270 SEC and mentor-led in-person events facilitated. 
  • Delivered over 900 education workshops for students and over 30 teacher training courses. 
  • Community Enabling Framework: Updated community resources toolkit guides for developing solar projects, wind projects and the planning process. 

Research 

  • €22 million awarded to 42 research and innovation projects across diverse energy themes.  
  • Published online technology, GIS and data dashboards providing local level energy information to communities. 
  • Supported ten offshore technologies, including wave, tidal, sub-systems, and components, for small scale prototype testing at LIR facility. 
  • Increased research impact by connecting researchers and policymakers to support evidence-based policy development, including SEAI’s National Energy Research and Policy Conference.  

Organisational 

  • Continued the transformation journey focusing on streamlining processes and improving customer experience. Implemented major web service upgrade with almost two million website sessions served. 
  • Almost 300,000 customer contacts (phone, email, chat) served. Secured contact centre partnership award with outsource partner Fexco. 
  • Retained ICD Silver accreditation, with significant increases in all categories. 
  • Secured ISO27001 certification for information security
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