Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister for the Economy what support is available for homeowners to help with the installation of solar panels.
Minister for the Economy: The Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 set out a target of 80% of electricity consumption to be from renewable sources in the north of Ireland by 2030. Essential to meeting this target will be the establishment of a support scheme for renewable electricity.
Departmental officials are currently working on a scheme design that will incentivise investment in larger scale renewable electricity projects ensuring consumers pay a fair price for electricity produced locally.
Options for microgeneration support, including domestic renewable generation such as solar panels, will continue to be evaluated as part of our net zero ambitions.
The Windsor framework enables the extension to the North of the VAT relief for energy-saving materials that was previously available only in Britain. That means that people here will also be able to apply zero rates of VAT to the installation of energy-saving materials, such as solar panels.
Independent advice on solar panels, heat pumps and other energy efficiency matters is available from organisations such as the Energy Saving Trust. These technologies have the potential to provide an attractive payback to homeowners without grant support.
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