Minister for Natural Resources Noel Dempsey announced on Monday that interest in the new renewable energy 'Greener Homes' Scheme has been extremely positive since it began eight weeks ago.
The Minister revealed that two thousand five hundred applicants had already been approved as of the 1st July with over a thousand grant applicants for heat pumps topping the bill.
Other major applications to have been approved were over seven hundred wood chip/pellet boilers and stoves and five hundred applications for solar panels.
"The scheme, which supports investment in renewable energy heat technologies (such as wood chip and wood pellet boilers and stoves, solar panels and heat pumps), has proven to be popular with the public from day one and is really raising peoples awareness of cleaner, more efficient options for heating their homes," said Minister Dempsey.
According to Minister Dempsey the key objectives of the scheme, which was launched by Sustainable Energy Ireland, include "raising consumers awareness of renewable energy choices for their homes, stimulating the market for domestic renewable technologies by encouraging more people to purchase and install renewable technologies, and achieving a positive fuel switch from fossil fuels to more environmentally friendly renewable alternatives."
The scheme is also set to complement recent development to Ireland's renewable electricity programme which now has 850MW of renewable electricity capacity connected to the grid.
Meanwhile, the new electricity support scheme, REFIT, opened for applications on Thursday 1st June. This scheme is set to provide support for a further 400MW of renewable energy to ensure that Ireland fully meets its European Union 2010 target of 13.2% of electricity consumption generated from renewable energy sources.
"The REFIT scheme will see the electricity needs of 260,000 homes provided for by renewable energy sources. It will reduce our dependency on imported fossil fuels by thirty seven and a half million barrels of oil over fifteen years. Crucially it will prevent the emission of over ne million tones of polluting greenhouse gases annually. I look forward to seeing continued support for all kinds of renewable energy when the REFIT programme opens for business," concluded the minister.
For details on renewable energy grants and application forms visit: http://www.irish-energy.ie/index.asp?locID=6&docID=-1
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