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Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan and Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan have today named the eight university projects to progress to the next stage of the Energy Efficiency and Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme.
The Pathfinder Programme delivers funding to higher education institutions for projects that will improve energy efficiency and drive decarbonisation in their buildings.
The successful university projects, which will now begin their detailed design and the preparation of tender documents, are in DCU, TU Dublin, Trinity College, SETU, ATU and TUS.
The news comes as Ministers O’Donovan and Ryan announced additional funding of more than €40 million to help drive decarbonisation across the Higher Education sector, bringing the overall total funding to more than €100 million.
Speaking today, Minister O’Donovan said:
“This is a key climate action measure which will support higher education institutions in making progress towards 2030 targets of a 50% improvement in energy efficiency and 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
“The pathfinder programme continues to test a range of building retrofit approaches to build evidence and capability in the sector, and to inform decisions as larger scale programmes are rolled out in the future.
“Central to tackling the climate challenge we face and helping us to meet the sectoral targets is the ongoing decarbonisation of the Higher Education estate. This exceptional pathfinder programme plays a key role in this endeavour.”
Minister Ryan added:
“The Pathfinder Programme continues to be highly successful in delivering significant energy savings and emissions reductions in the higher education sector.
“I am delighted that this programme which is investing over €100 million is taking a lead role in energy efficiency and climate action, whilst improving the learning experience for our young people.
“The targets are challenging but through the programme we are gathering the evidence needed to scale up and speed up the transition over coming years.”
Launched in early 2023 the EEDPP-HE 2023 is the third round of the pathfinder initiative and is designed to provide ongoing support to the higher education sector in testing and demonstrating effective energy efficiency and decarbonisation approaches.
The programme also aims to build scale and develop a foundation for sustainable practices across institutions.
Following a competitive programme call and evaluation process led by representatives of HEA, SEAI and DFHERIS eight projects have now been selected to progress to the next stage of the process.
These projects will be subject to a further review at the next Decision Gate. This is a key part of the programme management approach in determining which projects can progress to the next stage of the project life cycle.
Ciarán McCaffrey, Head of Capital Programmes in the HEA, said:
“Since 2020, the Higher Education sector have successfully delivered a range of energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects under the EEDPP.
“Today’s announcement that a further eight projects will progress to the next stage of the EEDPP is key in advancing the climate action agenda within the Higher Education sector.
“These projects will not only allow the sector to continue to build capacity and but will also further develop our body of knowledge in relation to renewable technologies, energy efficiency improvements and carbon reduction measures within the Higher Education Estate, which is vital to the sector making progress towards our targets.
“We look forward to delivering this programme for the sector and continuing to work with Higher Education Institutions on this important and ambitious agenda."
Declan Meally, Director of Business, Public Sector and Transport at SEAI said:
“The Pathfinder Programme is a great demonstration of cross government collaboration to decarbonise our public sector buildings.
“SEAI is delighted to see the growing ambition and commitment from the higher education sector and we welcome the support for this portfolio of great projects.”
The Climate Action (Amendment) Act 2021 commits Ireland to a legally binding path to net-zero emissions no later than 2050, and to a 51% reduction in emissions by the end of this decade. Following on from this, the Climate Action Plan lists the actions needed to deliver on these ambitious targets and sets indicative ranges of emissions reductions for each sector of the economy. It also calls on the public sector to lead by example, inspiring the necessary climate action in wider society.
In this regard, the Higher Education Authority (HEA), in partnership with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) has undertaken two iterations of the Energy Efficiency and Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme (EEDPP) for the Higher Education (HE) sector. One of the aims of this programme was to establish a body of knowledge within the higher education sector in relation to renewable technologies, energy efficiency improvements and carbon reduction measures.
The first round of funding under the programme consisted of circa. €6 million in exchequer funding distributed to seven projects. The grants distributed ranged from €250k to €1 million and commensurate with the size of the grants, the works targeted were relatively small-scale consisting of lighting upgrades, limited upgrades to fabric and the installation of heat pumps. The HEA in partnership with DFHERIS and SEAI aimed to take a more targeted approach with the second round of the EEDPP. This was based on the conclusions of a report commissioned by SEAI which categorised the HE estate into eight different archetypes and outlined six viable pathways or approaches to energy efficiency and decarbonisation based on those archetypes. Thus, the second round of the EEDPP provided funding between €1.5 and €3 million to eight HEIs to conduct energy efficiency and decarbonisation works based on their selected pathway.
Following on from the previous two iterations of the programme, the EEDPP 2023 aims to consolidate the learnings from EEDPP 2020 and 2021. The objectives of the programme are aligned with national objectives and are outlined below:
The EEDPP 2023 is co-funded by DFHERIS and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) through the SEAI and administered by the HEA.
The purpose of the EEDPP 2023 is to assist HEIs in working towards the ambitious decarbonisation targets while also continuing to develop and disseminate knowledge of retrofit pathways for the Higher Education sector.
The initial fund for the programme was €60 million. This fund has been increased to €101.5 million to facilitate the development of a robust pipeline of projects providing greater flexibility in terms of prioritising or timing of projects. Two tranches of projects have already been funded under this programme.
| HEI | Pathway | |
| DCU | SPC Blocks A, B, C, D and E Medium Retrofit with High Temperature Air Source Heat Pump Integration to District Heating Network | |
| DCU | Nano Research Facility Deep Retrofit with Low Temperature Air Source Heat Pump Integration | |
| TU Dublin | Aras Fíos Deep Fabric Retrofit | |
| TCD | Trinity East Research Laboratories – Units 1,2,3 and 8 | |
| SETU | Engineering and Science Building | |
| TCD | Trinity East 3 Grand Canal Quay | |
| ATU Galway | Deep Retrofit with low temperature air source heat pump | |
| TÚS, Moylish | Blocks 12, 14 and 15 – Deep Retrofit with low temperature air source heat pump |