Receive financial assistance to implement energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects with SEAI's Energy Contracting Support Scheme.

About the Scheme

The Energy Contracting Support Scheme provides financial assistance to help businesses and public sector organisations to deliver energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects through Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs), Local Energy Supply Contracts (LESCs) and Energy Performance Guarantees (EPGs).

Find out more about Energy Contracting

What activities are funded

The Scheme aims to support the direct external consultancy and/or specialist advisory costs related to project appraisal and procurement of pay-for-performance energy contracts.

Activities supported include, amongst others:

  • Preliminary energy audits
  • Feasibility studies
  • Risk assessments
  • Business case development
  • Financial analysis
  • Legal advice
  • Evaluation of procurement options
  • Specialist consultancy services, e.g. financial, technical, legal

Funding amounts

Successful applicants will receive up to 75% funding of eligible costs, subject to a maximum limit of:

AmountEnergy Contract Type
€50,000 Energy Performance Contracts (EPC) / Local Energy Supply Contracts (LESC)
€25,000 Energy Performance Guarantees (EPGs)

Benefits for your business

  • Access technical expertise and guidance
  • Identify opportunities for decarbonisation and energy improvement
  • Mitigate performance risk and guarantee energy savings
  • Reduce your organisation’s environmental impact
  • Reduce energy costs
  • Enhance your organisation's reputation and improve competitiveness

Eligibility

We accept applications from both public and private and sectors. This includes buildings, industry, commercial operations, transport and utility services.

The grant is not available to the residential sector.

The support is not limited to any specific project type or technology, although the project must incorporate a pay-for-performance element. Project proposals with the following criteria are particularly encouraged:

  • Deep energy retrofit and / or decarbonisation actions
  • Work packages comprising multiple project elements and / or technologies
  • Project aggregation / projects comprising multiple facilities
  • Projects that set organisations on a trajectory to net zero
  • Projects that contribute positively to the energy contracting knowledge base and support the development of the energy contracting supply chain

Full eligibility details are set-out in Section 2.4 of the ECSS Application Guidance.

How to apply

A complete Energy Contracting Support Scheme grant application includes the following: 

  1. Completed Application Form
  2. Declaration of ECSS eligibility
  3. De Minimis Declaration
  4. Declaration of Financial Resources
  5. Letter of VAT exemption (if applicable) 

Full guidance on the application process and required documentation are set out in Section 2.7 of the ECSS Application Guidance.

Completed grant applications must be uploaded directly to SEAI’s grant evaluation site called the Project Evaluation Platform (PEP) via the application link below. A step-by-step guide to the upload process can be downloaded here.

Fully completed applications will be evaluated by SEAI within 6 weeks of receipt of application. Successful applicants will receive a 'Letter of Offer' outlining the terms and condition of the approved funding.

When to Apply

We are open for applications all year.

Generally, the entry point to the scheme is after the completion of an initial appraisal to determine project viability, but before the final business case(s), financial analysis, detailed design and contractual documentation have been developed.

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Contact us

For any further queries, please email us at business@seai.ie.