BioXL carried out an extensive analysis of options for incentivising renewable heat in Ireland on behalf of the Irish Bioenergy Association, which was published in September 2015 and submitted to the Department of Energy in response to ongoing consultations on the topic.
There are national and EU policies supporting decarbonisation through delivery of 12% renewable share of heat by 2020. Most public buildings and industries continue to rely on fossil gas for their heating needs. The market for renewable heat has seen almost zero activity since 2008.
The only prospect of getting this market going again is to promptly
deliver a renewable heat incentive which pays end-users to switch from
fossil gas to renewable heat.
Some of the key recommendations are:
- To urgently replace gas boilers with renewable heat systems to meet 2020 targets - Ireland is currently at 6% renewable share of heat
- Gas prices are extremely competitive, and priced at a level which does not account for the wider socio-economic impact of it's use
- In this context, an exchequer-funded renewable heat incentive is required to give an appropriate signal to switch from gas to more sustainable renewable heat technologies
