MINISTER FOR ENERGY and Climate Darragh O’Brien will bring plans for a boiler scrappage scheme and grants for solar battery storage to cabinet for sign-off next week. 

The boiler scrappage scheme will see households be offered an additional €2,000 to replace their oil and kerosene boilers on top of existing heat pump grants worth €12,500.

It is expected to be in place from January 2027. 

Existing grants for heat pumps and other retrofits will be available on top of the €2,000 boiler scrappage grant.

“There’s a lot of people in the country, particularly in rural areas, that are dependent on kerosene home heating oil, and we’ve seen the increases in prices, particularly in that area,” O’Brien told reporters this afternoon in New York, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly. 

Further details of the plans are set to be announced after Cabinet next Tuesday, but O’Brien confirmed today that the grants for battery storage are expected to be in place from October of this year.

He declined to say exactly how much the grant will be worth but said it will be “significant” and added “it’ll be good”.

On the battery storage grants, O’Brien said he wants people who have already been approved for solar grants to now be able to access a battery grant, which will allow for domestic storage of solar energy.

“Solar is a major part of our energy mix now… and we want to see can it be done more efficiently,” he said.

He said he wanted to phase in grants that are contractor-led to remove the administrative burden from the SEAI in certain grants.

“Like we’ve done with windows and doors, for argument’s sake, which have been really, really successful,” he said.

He noted that there have been 90,000 retrofit grant applications this year and said he wants to build on that to protect households from further energy price shocks and to pivot the country to renewable energy.

“It saves money, and also, as I said, it’s good for our climate, too, and reduces emissions,” he said. 

Asked if existing solar grants will be increased in the budget, the minister said they would not be.