SSRH Heat Pump Installation Grant

Businesses, public bodies and charitable organisations can apply for qualifying non-domestic heat projects. The investment grant also covers the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) sector, where businesses account for their emissions through tradable allowances; its projects must still meet the grant conditions. The applicant must be an EU or European Economic Area national, or a corporate undertaking established under the law of an EU or EEA state with its principal place of business there. An Irish establishment or branch is required at application and payment, along with an Irish bank account for payment.

You must be solvent when applying and claiming payment, meet the State-aid rules excluding businesses in financial difficulty, and be tax compliant at payment. You must own the installation when the grant is paid and own and operate it for five years afterwards. SEAI assesses alternative ownership arrangements individually. Businesses of any size must show that the grant materially increases the project's scale or spending, or brings completion forward.

The heat must serve a real space-heating, hot-water or industrial-process need that would otherwise use fossil fuel. Heated buildings must be permanent, enclosed and in Ireland. The design must meet the relevant technical and regulatory requirements. If the building falls below the specified 2008 insulation-performance standards, or baseline heat use exceeds suitable benchmarks, the design report must compare the installation and running costs of upgrading to those standards with the installation and running costs of the proposed design. SEAI calls this a Balanced Cost Design. It helps establish a workable balance between improving insulation and operating the heating system.

SEAI may waive the building-energy certification or Balanced Cost Design requirement where it accepts that the design is technically viable and suitable. For process heat, this can apply when the building construction does not affect heat use and the heat use meets industry benchmarks. Other possible cases include high-temperature or combined heat-pump and backup systems whose effective performance is not affected by the building envelope. EXEED-certified projects may qualify for an alternative where the building demonstrably exceeds the 2008 standards. These are discretionary routes, not automatic exemptions.

• Single domestic dwellings are excluded, including a home attached to a shop or farm. A district-heating network can qualify when it supplies multiple buildings or sites, has at least 70 kW of heat capacity, and serves at least two different end users, each with an individual meter and a commercial contract charging for heat consumed.
• Excluded uses include outdoor or open-space heating, domestic swimming pools, drying wood fuel or digestate, anaerobic-digestion pasteurisation, electricity generation and unnecessary heat production. Spending required merely to meet minimum renewable-energy regulations is ineligible; additional provision may qualify under the cost rules.
• Equipment must be new, meet applicable standards and carry CE marking. Heat pumps must transfer heat through a liquid: air-to-air heat pumps are excluded. Installations require qualified contractors, the relevant electrical and refrigerant certifications, and at least a two-year warranty. Metering must measure electricity input, heat output and eligible heat use.
• The project cannot receive another grant for the installation, associated costs, maintenance or heat output. Bank finance and other non-grant funding are allowed. An installation supported through the REFIT or RESS renewable-electricity schemes is excluded.

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• Subject to the annual government funding allocation. Eligible payments are made first come, first served and may be deferred if funding is exhausted.
• SEAI recommends waiting for the Letter of Offer before incurring expenditure; spending before approval is at the applicant’s risk.

Start by choosing an energy auditor from SEAI's official register, linked below, and engaging an energy consultant or competent heating-system designer. Arrange an audit to establish your energy use. Use the grant rules and design-report guidance on the official programme page to assess your heat demand, system suitability and efficiency improvements.

Prepare the design report, technical diagrams, cost quotations, funding and applicant declarations, and any required building-energy evidence. Apply through the SEAI PEP portal. Procurement must demonstrate value for money: public bodies follow public procurement rules, and private and charitable applicants must also use competitive procurement. SEAI may require three quotes or a tender; a quantity surveyor's detailed bill of quantities is an accepted alternative where these are unavailable.

SEAI recommends waiting for the Letter of Offer before incurring expenditure. Spending before grant approval is at your own risk and does not commit SEAI to fund the project.

Accept the written offer by its stated deadline. Normally you have up to 18 months from the Letter of Offer to complete and commission the system and submit the payment documents, unless the offer specifies otherwise. For an exceptional delay, request SEAI’s project-specific Extension Request Form and submit it as early as possible, before the original completion date, with reasons and a proposed new date. SEAI may refuse an extension; an approved new completion date is final and cannot be extended again.

You may request milestone payments at 50% and 100% project completion, or one final payment. The final claim requires paid invoices, receipts and bank statements, a qualified contractor's commissioning certificate, the design engineer's completion report and the other required certifications and declarations. The completed project must pass SEAI’s document review and inspection for final payment.

Keep the installation operating and the required measurements for five years from payment, retain records for ten years, and allow SEAI inspections. Breaching the conditions can lead to repayment of some or all of the grant.