Government is committed to ensuring a secure, affordable and sustainable energy system for all consumers. The reliance of our heating sector on fossil fuels is a significant contributor to Ireland’s high energy import dependency and carbon emissions, and the introduction of the Renewable Heat Obligation (RHO) is a key objective for me, as Minister, to help address these challenges.
Design of the RHO included two phases of analysis, stakeholder engagement activities, and extensive industry engagement. Feedback received informed a full impact assessment on the scheme structure, considering critical factors, including the economic and social impact of the obligation.
Under current proposals, all renewable fuels used for heat that satisfy the sustainability criteria of the Renewable Energy Directive, including hydrotreated vegetable oil, will be considered eligible for certification under the scheme.
Priority drafting of the Renewable Heat Obligation Bill 2025 is underway with the intention to submit it to Government for approval and priority publication as part of the Summer legislative programme.
The National Heat Study, published by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), considered a number of potential decarbonisation options for a wide range of dwellings and business premises. These included the use of liquid biofuels as well as heat pumps and district heating networks. Although the recommendation of the Heat Study is that heat pumps are the optimal decarbonisation path for heating systems, the Heat Study also recognised the potential role for sustainable bioenergy for buildings that require alternative routes to decarbonisation, and that is being considered as part of a suite of measures to decarbonise heat.
The Programme for Government 2025 commits to targeting older homes still using oil to switch to renewable heating systems and to consider the use of sustainable biofuels to reduce emissions from existing home boilers where deep retrofits are not possible in the short term. This is being considered as part of the SEAI's analysis of the optimum use of bioenergy in Ireland's energy system, and policy development for the phase out of fossil fuel boilers.
