SSRH Payments for Biomass and Biogas Heat

Commercial, industrial, agricultural, public-sector, district-heating and other non-domestic heat users can apply. Sites covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), which requires emissions allowances for their greenhouse-gas emissions, are excluded. Both the installation and the supported heat use must be in Ireland.

Applicants can be EU or European Economic Area nationals, or corporate undertakings with an establishment and a branch and/or subsidiary in Ireland. Overseas headquarters are allowed where the required Irish establishment is in place. Establishment declarations are required at application and throughout payments, and payments go to an Irish bank account.

You must be the prospective owner when applying and remain the legal owner for each tariff payment. A party acting only as financier or lessor is excluded; an owner acting as energy-services contractor, operator or heat buyer can qualify. If another party operates the system, you remain responsible and must bind that operator to the scheme obligations by contract. You need solvency and tax clearance at application and throughout payments. Businesses in financial difficulty or subject to an outstanding EU recovery order for unlawful aid cannot receive support.

The installation must use new heat-generating equipment and meters. Converting used equipment is excluded, although existing external fuel silos and heat-distribution systems may remain if fit for purpose. Use qualified designers and installers, with registered electrical sign-off, and meet the relevant efficiency and installation standards. Biomass boilers need at least 75% seasonal efficiency at capacities up to 20 kW and 77% above 20 kW; biogas boilers need at least 90%. CHP must be certified as high efficiency by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities.

Obtain at least five-year design and new-product warranties. The system warranty, supported by maintenance and service contracts, should cover at least five years for new equipment and two years for retained equipment, unless otherwise agreed with SEAI. Warranties must include repair and replacement commitments and be assigned to the owner.

The heat must meet a justified space-heating, hot-water or process need. For space heating and other uses where the building’s physical construction, such as its walls and roof, affects heating needs, the building must be permanent and enclosed. SEAI may waive these building criteria for process or water heating only if you demonstrate that the building’s construction does not affect that heat use and that heat demand meets an appropriate industry best-practice benchmark. Heat needed merely to meet minimum regulatory renewable-energy requirements is excluded; useful heat above that minimum may qualify.

Single homes, including a home attached to a farm or business, are excluded. A district network may include homes if it has at least 70 kW of heat capacity and at least two different final users, each metered and paying under a consumption-based commercial contract. Support is limited to the capacity approved by SEAI under the applicable State-aid rules. Your project must also stay within its approved annual heat and payment caps.

Temporary State-aid restrictions limit biomass installations to a maximum rated output of 1 MW, or 6 MW for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These are installation output limits, distinct from the annual quantity of heat eligible for payment. The temporary limits concern biomass installations.

The tariff excludes outdoor or partly open-space heating, domestic swimming pools, wood-fuel drying, drying digestate (the residue from anaerobic digestion), pasteurisation within anaerobic-digestion plants, electricity generation and excessive or unnecessary heat. Only eligible heat counts, measured at its point of use. Any connected fossil-fuel backup must be metered separately.

Fuel conditions apply throughout the payment period:

• Biomass must meet land-protection, sustainable harvesting and lifecycle emissions criteria. Lifecycle emissions must be no more than 24 grams of carbon-dioxide equivalent per megajoule of heat generated, a 70% saving against the scheme's fossil-fuel benchmark. Sustainability can be shown through recognised certification or the required equivalent records and calculations. Solid biomass proven to meet the European Commission definition of waste is deemed to meet the sustainability requirements; the scheme’s waste-use exclusions still apply. Fuel quality must separately be certified through the Wood Fuel Quality Association or an equivalent scheme.
• Biogas must be traceable to an eligible anaerobic-digestion source, where organic material breaks down without oxygen. Closed storage for digestate and the applicable waste, emissions and animal-by-product permissions are required. Landfill gas is excluded. Its lifecycle emissions limit is 24 grams of carbon-dioxide equivalent per megajoule of net calorific fuel energy at the point of use: the usable energy released by the fuel, excluding heat recovered from condensing water vapour. Without approved feedstock certification, grass silage and other harvested energy crops may make up no more than 20% of feedstock.
• Food-based biofuels and combustion of the biodegradable fraction of municipal waste are excluded. Waste feedstock must not be diverted from recycling or reuse. Biomass boilers using liquid fuel are excluded.
• Meet the applicable air-pollution limits, environmental permits and monitoring requirements for the plant's size and fuel. Projects must also satisfy the scheme's requirement to avoid significant harm to environmental objectives.

Declare other public funding. Support for the same installation, associated costs, maintenance or heat output is restricted; where another public support exists, you must demonstrate that support for renewable heat is not duplicated. Bank and other non-grant finance are allowed. REFIT renewable-electricity support for the same installation excludes the tariff. High-efficiency CHP may seek RESS support for its electricity output, subject to that scheme's terms, State-aid approval and efficient design; notify SEAI within ten working days if such support is approved.

Estado

Aberto continuamente

Restrições da rodada

• Complete eligible applications receive offers first come, first served, subject to the annual budget. Further offers may wait for additional funding.
• Tariff payments depend on verified eligible heat and continued compliance, for a maximum of 15 years.

Arrange an energy audit using SEAI's official auditor register, linked below, and engage an energy consultant or competent design engineer. Prepare a design report, heating diagram, annual heat-use forecast, energy-management plan and efficiency assessment. Include the required declarations, tax information, fuel-sourcing evidence and emissions documentation. The programme page links the design-report guidance and application checklist.

Apply through the SEAI PEP portal. SEAI recommends waiting for its Letter of Offer before incurring expenditure. Any permitted early spending first requires SEAI’s written confirmation that your application has passed initial screening. Even after that confirmation, spending before the offer is at your own risk and does not commit SEAI to support your project.

Accept the Letter of Offer and Tariff Agreement within ten working days of the offer date. Normally, complete the project within 18 months of that letter; the agreement can specify a longer period and SEAI may grant an extension. Provide progress updates at 12 and 18 months if completion has not been declared. Obtain prior written consent for scope changes, which cannot increase the approved heat or payment caps.

Tell SEAI four weeks before estimated completion. Have the system tested and commissioned, then submit the completion declaration and supporting documents, including the starting meter reading. SEAI reviews the documents and inspects the site. After passing these checks, SEAI assigns the Commencement Date and admits the project to the payment cycle.

Submit quarterly eligible-heat meter readings. Use permanent, fixed, tamper-proof meters meeting the scheme's accuracy and installation requirements; keep calibration and maintenance records and obtain written permission before changing meters. Maintain fuel-quality, source, quantity, invoice and emissions records, and allow periodic inspections.

Submit the annual compliance declaration on each anniversary of the Commencement Date, within ten working days of its due date. Keep the system maintained. Notify SEAI within ten working days of a change of ownership or eligible heat use, and at least ten working days before a planned significant stoppage or cessation of operation. Notify SEAI of a proposed replacement or relocation so it can assess continued eligibility. Failure to demonstrate eligibility, validate metered heat or meet continuing obligations can lead to withheld or reduced payments and recovery of money already paid.