Energy efficiency has been coined as the ‘first fuel’ in the global decarbonisation journey and has become a critical piece of Ireland’s Climate Action Plan for achieving both industry and public sector climate targets (CAP, 2025).
The Excellence in Energy Efficient Design (EXEED) scheme from SEAI is uniquely positioned to accelerate industry decarbonisation and energy efficiency in Ireland while stimulating supply chain capabilities.
It does this by promoting awareness of Energy Efficient Design principles to industry stakeholders and providing up to €3m funding support to projects which have embedded the certifiable design process prior to capital investment. EXEED projects challenge the status quo and identify innovative solutions to increase energy efficiency and decarbonisation for Irish industry.
What is Energy Efficient Design?
Energy Efficient Design (EED) is just good design. A core principle of EED relies on bringing a project team together to challenge conventional thinking to identify opportunities to reduce energy and remove carbon from complex industrial processes or buildings.
When put into practice, EED can result in innovative solutions being identified and implemented that not only save money and reduce carbon but also boost business competitiveness and increase sustainability recognition.
One notable example is Ahascragh Distillery in Co Galway. The project team embarked on an EXEED project for the redesign of an existing whiskey distillery plant.
The result was an innovative approach to distillery which halved heating and cooling demand, removed fossil fuels completely, and received €500,000 grant funding through the EXEED scheme.
Another example is Roadstone Ltd, who embarked on an EXEED journey across their building and construction materials business, achieving 24GWh savings to date and with a total of 50GWh savings expected across 11 manufacturing sites by implementing all identified opportunities.
What is the EXEED scheme?
The EXEED scheme incentivises Energy Efficient Design across a wide range of capital projects including construction material manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, food and drink, datacenter and hospitality sectors by funding both design stage and capital stage costs.
Industry energy efficiency projects can receive funding amounting to 50% of costs at design stage while capital projects can receive funding amounting to 30% of eligible costs, or up to 40% in the case of heat pump installations, to a maximum of €3m.
Projects are assessed based on energy and carbon savings achieved by a new project design compared to an existing or status quo design. Eligible costs for capital funding are the additional costs of reaching a higher level of energy efficiency.
Figure 1 – EXEED scheme offering.
How to get involved?
Whether you are a business organisation seeking supports for your decarbonisation or an energy consultancy looking for a new tool in your design toolbox, the first step in the EXEED journey is contacting EXEED@seai.ie or +353 (1) 808 2162 for more information.
This article expresses the opinion of the author and not SEAI as an organisation. Learn more about SEAI business grants here.
Author: Jason Sheridan, programme executive, SEAI