Renewable microgeneration: Plan for €2,400 grant due before Cabinet

Government is set to approve a plan for a subsidised renewable microgeneration scheme aimed at 70,000 homes and businesses.

Under plans to be brought to Cabinet today by Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan, homes, smaller businesses, farms and community buildings will be able to apply for a grant of up to €2,400 towards the cost of installing equipment such as solar panels.

The users of the scheme will also receive a tariff equivalent to the wholesale electricity rate for an energy they sell back into the grid, known as the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG). Participants can apply for installation grants from early next year.

Larger operators with installed capacity of between 6kW and 50kW will be able to apply for a separate Clean Export Premium, which will involve the purchase of power back at a level currently higher than the wholesale price. The aim is to support 380 megawatts of capacity, equivalent to over one million solar panels.

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Meanwhile, Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien will seek approval from his cabinet colleagues for changes to the tenant purchase scheme, which allows social housing tenants the right to purchase their homes under certain conditions.

Under the changed scheme, the minimum period tenants will be required to be in receipt of social housing supports before becoming eligible to purchase a local authority house will increase from one to 10 years.

The income level needed to participate, however, will be brought down as part of an effort to enable more pensioners to purchase their social home. Currently, you must have an income of €15,000 per year to be eligible, but this will shortly be changed to €12,500 for those in receipt of pensions.

Minister for Equality Roderic O’Gorman will also seek cabinet approval for the publication of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill, which is designed to give access to birth certificates and early life information for people adopted or boarded out from institutions, and who are seeking more information about their identity.

However, the final legislation will not be published until the New year as it still needs some technical amendments written into it.