Enerfina in the Press

Enerfina the "green energy portal of reference"

Sunday Business Post - Sunday, May 20, 2007 - By Gavin Daly

Enerfina, a new Dublin firm, hopes to cash in on demand for alternative energy by acting as a broker between customers and suppliers of green-energy technology. The firm has formed partnerships with dozens of suppliers of solar panels, wood pellet stoves and boilers and heat pumps, and is selling through its website and call centre. Customers can buy centrally from several suppliers through Enerfina, which makes its money from commission. Gordon Atkinson, co-founder and chairman of Enerfina, said that the firm hoped its website would become the "green energy portal of reference" for people wanting to use energy-efficient products. "We will be the one point of contact for the market," he said.

Visitors to the Enerfina website can enter details of their property, look at green energy options and get a quote for various products. The firm can direct them to their nearest technology supplier and also help customers with grant applications to Sustainable Energy Ireland. Atkinson said Enerfina had formed a partnership with Permanent TSB for people who wanted options to finance their purchase. The company also has a partnership with Irish Pellets, a wood pellet supplier, and guarantees supply of pellets to its customers, he said.

Atkinson is a former consultant who worked with Accenture and KPMG, advising large Irish and international companies on strategy and technology implementations. The idea for Enerfina came about a year ago and he has been working full time on the company since January.

While Enerfina has been financed to date by its three founders, Atkinson said the company would look at funding options as it grew. "We would hope to expand in this niche in Ireland and then go to Britain," he said.Atkinson said there were also opportunities to supply the commercial sector.

The Energy of Enerfina

Sunday Independent - Sunday June 3, 2007

Offering its services free of charge, Enerfina is an independent green energy technology broker. Similar to how an insurance broker finds and recommends policies, Enerfina has been launched to advise both domestic and commercial customers on how to switch to environmentally-friendly products. Its aim is to de-mystify the range of options available and to ensure that customers can avail of quality products from the best suppliers in the marketplace.

Launched in May 2007, Enerfina has actually been on the Irish energy scene for much longer, carefully researching the Irish energy market and creating relationships with green technology providers to provide a complete service to its customers.

"While most people are conscious of the rising costs of fossil fuels such as oil and gas, and would like to do something positive for the environment, they’re not always sure where to start," says Enerfina co-founder and director, Gordon Atkinson.

"We discovered that while there was a large number of products and installers available in the market, there was no single entity capable of providing independent, objective advice on products such as Wood Pellet Boilers, Solar Panels and Heat Pumps."

By building relationships with energy partners, Enerfina may now offer volume discounts on approved products, as well as ensuring quality installations through clear contracts with specialised suppliers and installers. It also manages customers’ grant applications with Sustainable Energy Ireland, makes finance options available and guarantees wood-pellet fuel supply for its customers, which should help address any customer concerns with regard to fuel availability.

Enerfina’s website is key to its commercial strategy. Customers may log on and discover everything they need to know about green technology options, and by entering details of their property, get a tailored list of products and quotations.

Atkinson and his two co-founders are currently expanding the range of green technology products presented on their web portal to embrace areas such as insulation, wind turbines and rainwater harvesters.

A welcome and valuable addition to the green technology market, Enerfina is, in its own words, "green energy – made simple".

Visit Enerfina at info@enerfina.com.

Get Switched on to Energy Savings

You and Your Money - July, 2007

Want to kit out your home with the latest in energy saving products but don’t really know where to start? Then look no further than Enerfina, a wholly owned Irish company offering straightforward, no nonsense advice to customers who want to install or simply find out more about green energy saving products. And best of all, their service is free!

Enerfina acts as your "one-stop shop" for all things green and trawls through the hundreds of contractors and products on offer to find solutions best suited for you. As well as passing on savings to the customer by negotiating volume discounts, Enerfina acts as a single point of contact for customers, from first contact to installation. To find out more, visit www.enerfina.com.

New Home Energy Saving Scheme launched by Minister Ryan - Dublin, 24th April 2008

Government to subsidise energy assessement and cost of insulation

Energy Minister Eamon Ryan today announced a new Home Energy Saving Scheme. The Scheme will encourage and incentivise homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes in order to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

With an initial investment of €5 million, this regional pilot is designed to inform the roll-out of the full scale €100 million national scheme envisaged in the Programme for Government.

The Scheme will target older housing as these homes are most in need of energy efficiency retrofitting. It will begin its work with 2,000 homes in a regional pilot in North Tipperary, Limerick, Clare and Dundalk. There will be an additional strand, which will allow for clusters of housing throughout the country.

Householders will avail of a Building Energy Rating (BER) assessor to come to their house, give the home a BER rating and advise on the works that need to be carried out to improve energy efficiency. The homeowner will pre-pay €100 towards the cost of this assessment, with Sustainable Energy Ireland subsidising the balance. Approximately two thirds of the cost of the assessment, will therefore, will be covered by the Government.

The assessor may advise that the house requires such work as attic insulation, interior or exterior wall insulation, low emissivity double-glazing, heating control or a range of other energy efficient works. The Government will then cover up to 30% of the cost of these works, to a maximum of €2,500. On completion of the works a follow-up energy assessment on the building will be undertaken so that there is a “before and after” test of what has been done.

The Scheme will be administered by Sustainable Energy Ireland and locally by the Tipperary Energy Agency, the Limerick/Clare Energy Agency and the SEI team in Dundalk. One of the aims is to get a grouping of houses to have the same work undertaken so that the cost to each individual householder comes down.

Launching the Scheme Minister Ryan said, “Of the 1.7 million homes in Ireland, it is estimated that up to 1 million require some investment to improve their energy efficiency. This Scheme will support homeowners who wish to invest in their homes to bring them up to modern energy efficiency standards. Such investment has been shown to pay for itself in energy savings in a few short years.

This scheme will help Ireland meet our climate change targets at the same time as assisting the householder with energy costs. Householders will save on their electricity and heating bills; they will use their energy more wisely and increase the re-sale value on their homes. The Scheme will also be welcome news for the house-building sector.”

SEI estimate that the householder will save up to €500 in their energy bills every year and that the scheme will save 6,000 tonnes of CO2 in its first year alone.

The full €100 million scheme is expected to yield greenhouse gas savings of 175,000 tonnes per year.

New Electricity Microgeneration Programme Announced

“With significant power and financial savings, on-site electricity generation is the way forward” – Minister Ryan. Dublin, 16 April 2008

Energy Minister, Eamon Ryan today announced a pilot grant scheme which will allow users to generate electricity for their own use.

Electricity will be generated via small-scale technologies such as wind turbines and solar power, with the potential to sell excess power back to suppliers. Grant support to meet 50% of the initial start up costs will be made available for the installation of microgeneration systems in approximately 50 trials to be conducted nationwide.

Speaking at the annual SEI Energy Show at the RDS, Minister Ryan said “We are starting to make great strides with large-scale renewable energy, which will impact on power generation on a national level. Today, we focus on small scale generation in commercial sites and domestic dwellings”

With €2 million being provided in 2008 by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, the programme will be administered by Sustainable Energy Ireland in conjunction with key stakeholders, including the Commission for Energy Regulation, ESB Networks and electricity suppliers. The scheme follows a change in regulations last year allowing people to sell electricity back to the grid. It will provide the groundwork for consideration of a set feed in tariff for electricity produced through microgeneration.

Welcoming the programme, Minister Ryan said: ‘This scheme will empower electricity users to take action.

The change in regulations last year has cleared the way for Irish people to sell electricity back to the national grid. This, along with today’s announcement and the roll-out of smart meters will ultimately mean that everyday in every home people can use power in the most efficient manner possible.

We know from international experience that microgeneration can provide a sustainable, reliable and affordable alternative to the traditional methods of power generation. It is time to provide such an alternative here.”

Government announces new phase for Greener Homes Scheme as grant volumes exceed 22000 - Dublin, 7 July 2008

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan T.D. today announced that the Greener Homes Scheme (GHS), having made over 22,000 grant commitments to householders towards the installation of new renewable energy heating systems, will move immediately to Phase III of the scheme. The announcement of Phase III is timed to coincide with the recent coming into force of the revised Building regulations 2008 which for the first time see a compulsory requirement for some component of renewable energy in all new homes.

The main changes under Phase III of the scheme is that henceforth only existing (at least one year old) houses will be eligible for support and there will be a small reduction in the levels of support for the existing biomass technologies. In addition a new biomass technology, gasification boilers, is being added to the scheme and becomes eligible for support. Applications under this scheme will, effective from close of business Monday 7th July, no longer be accepted and Phase III will be open for business on July 22 2008.

Announcing the revised Scheme Minister Ryan said, “The Building Regulations 2008, which my colleague Minister Gormley brought into force on July 1st, make the inclusion of renewable energy in new homes compulsory. The existence of this legislation means that it would no longer be appropriate to grant aid their installation in new homes. On the other hand the installation of renewable heating systems in existing homes is typically more complex and therefore more expensive and so I believe merits continued support in the short term at least while the market reaches ultimate maturity’.

Of the 22,000 grant offers in place, already 13,000 of them have been paid following the successful installation of the systems. This has resulted in annual reduction of 33,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The applications are split across the three technologies: Biomass (26%), Heatpump (26%), Solar Thermal (48%). The scheme has helped establish a very strong supply industry for the products, services and fuels while the application of strict product standards and installer training and quality schemes has ensured that consumers are both informed and confident in their choices.

Minister Ryan concluded, ‘I see the continued availability of grants for these technologies as an important way of solidifying the establishment of a quality driven industry, that can underpin longer term renewable energy goals as Ireland strives to meet its national and international climate change obligations’.