The Deep Retrofit Pilot Programme was launched to investigate the technical, financial and behavioural challenges and opportunities that Deep Retrofit present and in turn inform policy options for potential future programmes.  The Pilot Programme has two broad purposes:

  • to offer grant support to make the upgrade of a home achievable and attractive to homeowners, and
  • to incentivise the market to become involved in the delivery of an integrated, whole house solution to achieve an A rating and to be able to deliver at a reasonable scale.

 

The fundamental principles of the Pilot programme define ‘Deep Retrofit’ as follows:

  • The home must achieve an A rating (< 75 kWh/m²/yr) from a starting point of C3 (> 200 kWh/m²/yr) or worse, which accounts for around 1 million homes in Ireland
  • Efficiency first, i.e. improving the insulation and airtightness means much less energy is required to heat the house
  • Airtightness must be no greater than 5 m³/hr/m² with a financial incentive for achieving ≤ 3 m³/hr/m²
  • New heating technologies must be from a renewable source.  Fossil fuel heating is not funded
  • Requirement for mechanical ventilation to ensure good indoor air quality

Homes meeting these criteria are eligible to apply for a grant that pays 50% of the costs of the renovation.  The pilot will ultimately inform the policies and measures that might be required for the large scale deeper retrofit of the poorer performing homes in Ireland by examining learnings from projects across the broad spectrum of house types in Ireland.

 

Principle Characteristics of the Incentive Programme:

Type of Programme: Incentive scheme to promote ambitious energy renovations of Irish homes
Year of initiation: 2017
Number of buildings: 261 homes were renovated up to July 2019
Measures implemented: Wall, floor and roof insulation – Replacement of windows and doors – Airtightness measures – Heating systems running on renewable energy sources – Mechanical ventilation systems with demand control
Results: Average energy savings of 36,600kWh per year per home – Average reduction of CO2 emissions of 10,160 kg CO2 equivalent per year per home
Energy performance: Average energy savings of 87% were achieved
Cost of the works: Average cost per home for the works €49,600
Technical consultants: Range of expertise required, including energy consultant to design works to achieve the A rating. Project Owners bring the relevant skills into the project team. Depending on the project, projects may also include input from architects, engineers, etc.

Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland website: https://www.seai.ie/

Irish government website ‘about’ section on SEAI: https://www.dccae.gov.ie/en-ie/energy/topics/State-Energy-Bodies/seai/Pages/SEAI.aspx

Report from March 2018 entitled Deep Energy Renovation of Traditional Buildings Addressing Knowledge Gaps and Skills Training in Ireland  https://www.seai.ie/documents/research-projects/RDD-000155.pdf