Plan for your energy future with support from SEAI. Our partnership approach enables willing communities to create their Energy Master Plan.
Why partner with the SEAI
The SEC partnership approach aims to enable bottom-up community energy solutions. Such a task cannot be achieved in isolation, so we want to partner with willing communities in planning for their energy future. SECs who are already in the SEC Network are encouraged to enter into a partnership with us.
Aim of the partnership
Over a three year time frame, your community can access supports to help you to establish a baseline Energy Master Plan (EMP). The EMP will help you identify energy saving opportunities, put in place a tailored work plan for your community, track the progress, and review.
The Energy Master Plan
The Energy Master Plan (EMP) can be separated into two parts, data collection and register of opportunities.
Data collection
We provide funding for your community to hire a consultant to help you collect local energy data. Examples of energy data collection may include:
- Desk study research of local energy use- such as fuel types, energy systems, energy spend etc.
- Energy audits of local buildings
- Establishing a Building Energy Rating (BER) baseline on homes
These are just some examples of data that would be useful in your EMP. Every community is different, so you may identify other ways to establish your community energy baseline.
Register of Opportunities
This is a tool that enables you to record the energy saving opportunities in your community, based on what data you collect. By using average unit costs for different fuel types, you can estimate the cost savings (and emissions savings) associated with each unit of energy saved.
The tool can rank every project idea or energy saving opportunity to show you the most effective measures you can undertake. This will inform your work plan going forward.
Supports from SEAI
To recognise the time, people and local knowledge you put into an EMP, we provide some supports to help you. These include:
- Access to a technical panel of experts
- Funding to hire a consultant to help gather local energy data
- Continued mentoring and guidance
- Skills and competency building
How to enter a partnership
Fill out the following forms and email to sec@seai.ie. Your mentor will guide you through each form before you submit. We are happy to accept drafts and give you feedback.
Partnership application
Use our Partnership guide to help complete this application.
- Energy Master Plan funding application form
- Energy Master Plan application guide
- Outline of data collection fields
Community Charter
Use our Community Charter Guidelines to help complete your Community Charter.
Competency Assessment
Use our Competency Assessment Example to help complete this form.
Contact us
Email sec@seai.ie
Call 01 808 2098