ENACT tool
Supporting your retrofit journey
Contact SEAI registered energy auditor and apply for support scheme
This is the first step of any energy saving project, and crucial to identify energy consumption hotspots and inefficiencies in the building. This will help to understand how much energy your business uses, bad actors in your process and actions that need to take to save energy, and their estimated cost and impact.
Regulatory requirements
- The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) mandates large organizations to complete energy audits every four years[1]
- Under the revised EED, enterprises with an average annual consumption higher than 10 TJ of energy over the previous three years must carry out an energy audit by October 11, 2026 (Articles 11(1) and 11(2))
Why do you need an Energy Audit?
- To improve energy performance and minimise the environmental impacts of the organisation’s operations.
- Detecting energy wastage allows businesses to implement cost-effective solutions that reduce energy bills.
- To provide clear financial information regarding energy savings opportunities in order to prioritise these items for the organisation’s decision-making process.
- To identify potential for using renewable energy supply technologies.
- Enhances workplace comfort and productivity by improving indoor environmental conditions.
- Supports corporate sustainability initiatives by reducing carbon footprint and environmental impact.
- To contribute to the process for certification to a formal energy management system, as set out in ISO 50001.
- Provides valuable data for making informed decisions about future energy investments and retrofitting projects.
Quick links:
It is important to understand the financial supports and grants available for SMEs and other businesses in different settings before performing the cost benefit analysis for a project.
Finance Decision Making Tool (FDMT)
This tool makes it easier for you to see what non repayable and other finance options available to you depending on the business sector, retrofit measures, annual energy consumption and size of the project. These inputs will decide what grants available to you and key information like grant amount, timeline and direct link to the specific grant will be showed to you.
Refer to our SME guide to financing energy efficiency projects [1]handbook to explore more information on possible grants, tax reliefs, loan finance, asset finance, etc. This guide will help you to understand pros and cons in different types of finance options which will help you to decide which options are most suitable for your business approach.
Simplified flowchart for FDMT
Quick links:
- Refer SEAI Business Energy Upgrade Scheme Guidelines – 2024
- Case studies that utilised SEAI grants and succeed energy efficient projects (Case study No. 2, 6-15)
- Link to the FAQ – Financing and budgeting section to explore more FAQs around this.
[1] This handbook needs to be in both view and downloadable version
It’s always better to select SEAI registered contractor to implement your energy efficient retrofit project to ensure quality and compliance with Irish standards which lead to secure the grants available.
When selecting a contractor, it is important to consider the following key factors.
- Identify government approved certified retrofit contractors
- Verify contractor’s credentials and certifications
- Previous work experience in the same field and scope of work
- Cost and timeline
- Post installation support provided by the contractor
Quick links:
When developing a retrofit plan, the initial energy audit is important, and the retrofit work needs to be aligned with the initial anergy audit recommendations which will allow business to save energy through the improvement. Business owner can request the help from the contractor, and both can discuss and finalise the retrofit plan. When developing the retrofit plan its always better to adhere to the requirement with the EPBD energy efficiency targets and specially minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for non-residential buildings.
Risk assessment also an important thing you need to have in this stage. Deciding how much risk is involved in the project, which determines how it will be managed moving forward. Proper retrofit plan leads you to reduce the lead time and interruption to your business.
Quick links:
- EU’s Energy Performance Building Directive (EPBD)
- Building Renovation Passport (BRP)
- Cost indicator and suitability survey for biomass boilers
- FAQs under planning and implementation
- Case studies from the list
This step consists of installing and carry out the planned measures, testing and handover to the business. Make sure following key actions are performed during project implementation phase,
- Coordinate with contractors, suppliers, and stakeholders to ensure smooth execution.
- Ensure that all materials and equipment meet required specifications.
- Monitor project milestones and conduct site inspections to monitor the work carry on.
- Continuous monitoring with third party company if involved.
Once you complete the retrofit measures you can update your BER rating by doing a BER assessment from a qualified BER assessor.
Quick links:
- FAQs under planning and implementation.
- National register of BER assessors
- Case studies from the list
Monitoring your system and maintain in a proper way is very important at the end of a retrofit project. Make sure your installed systems running smoothly and monitor them frequently to understand any faults in the system. It is essential to discuss with your contractor to look into the preventive maintenance schedule for your M&E systems installed.
Refer to the following guides to get an idea about how you can maintain and monitor your installed M&E systems.
Heat pump operation and maintenance guide.
O&M guide for mechanical ventilator heat recovery (MVHR) unit
Quick links:
- FAQs under operations and maintenance
ENACT Resources
