NIE Grants

NEW NIE Household Solar Water Heating Scheme!

To help stimulate the uptake of renewable technologies in Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) SMART Programme will provide support for solar water heating for households in Northern Ireland following the closure of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme Stream 1 grant for solar water heating on 24th May 2010.

The following grant is available from the NIE SMART programme which is managed by NIE Energy on behalf of NIE:

Funding will not be available for retrospective installations – only applications submitted from the 3rd June 2010 will be eligible for funding from this new grant.

It is your responsibility to check with your local authority about whether or not Building Control or planning permission is required. Please note that you must have received confirmation about statutory consents before submitting an application for grant funding from NIE. If you proceed without consents then your application will be invalid and you will not be able to claim a grant.

Please download an application form here and fill it in carefully – you must sign the application form as your agreement to the terms and conditions of the grant.

If your application is accepted you will then receive a grant offer letter – householders who proceed with the work without having applied and received a NIE grant offer letter will not receive a grant. There will be no exceptions to this requirement.

This new NIE Household Solar Water Heating Grant is a limited offer and is available only on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Some installations will be profiled to raise awareness of the uptake of renewable energy in Northern Ireland.

All grant administration is managed by NIE Energy so if you require any further information about the grant please contact Gwyneth Compston by emailing gwyneth.compston@nieenergy.co.uk

NEW Support for Businesses for Biomass Heating

Following the success of previous programmes for non domestic biomass heating, the NIE SMART programme is launching further grants to support non domestic biomass installations.

Applications are welcome from businesses who are considering installing a biomass boiler or stove. Through the previous support programmes we have supported installations at outdoor activity centres, restaurants, retail outlets, engineering firms and even funeral directors.

Installers must be approved through the Microgeneration Certification Scheme or the Renewable Energy Installer Academy, and products through the Microgeneration Certification Scheme.

The funding will be used to support, through a grant, the installation of biomass heating systems including wood pellet and wood chip. The following grants are available from the NIE SMART programme which is managed by NIE Energy on behalf of NIE:

• Boilers up to and including 150kW will be eligible for 15% of installed cost up to a maximum of £10,000.
• Boilers over 150kW up to 320kW will be eligible for 10% of installed cost up to a maximum of £12,000.
• Stoves will be eligible for £850 regardless of the size of the installation.

Funding support can be claimed for the cost of the boiler, the installation of the boiler and the fuel store but not for radiators or thermal stores.

The application form for grants and the guidelines for support are available below:

• Business Biomass Application Guidelines
• NIE 2009 Non Domestic Biomass Application Form

Applicants receiving funding for the same renewable project from any other NIE programme will not be funded through this scheme.

This is a limited offer from NIE and is available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis – retrospective grants will not be offered for existing installations or installations which are underway. Some installations will be profiled for PR purposes to raise awareness of the uptake of renewable energy in Northern Ireland.

Please send your completed application form to:

Gwyneth Compston
NIE Energy
Woodchester House
50 Newforge Lane
Belfast
BT9 5NW