An energy project is a project that your organisation has already implemented or may implement in the future to reduce and/or decarbonise your energy consumption.
This help page describes M&R methodology for energy projects. For step-by-step guidance on how to report data into the software system see the help page for the energy projects data input screen.
There are two high-level categories of projects that should be reported via M&R:
Implemented projects. These are projects that your organisation has already implemented. They should have the project status ‘implemented’. You must report an implementation year and energy savings, and SEAI will publish specific details for these projects.
Future projects that your organisation may implement in the future
Future projects can be further categorised into three different project statuses, which broadly reflect the degree of confidence that your organisation has that the project will proceed.
A ‘planned’ project is one that your organisation plans to implement in a specific future year. Reporting a planned project is an indication that your organisation is committed to implemented it. This project is included in the with-planned-projects (WPP) scenario calculated for your organisation (see below). You must report an implementation year and energy savings, and SEAI will publish specific details for this project.
A ‘tentative’ project is one that may be implemented in a specific future year, but your organisation may be less certain about the details of the project. Like a planned project, you must report an implementation year and energy savings. However, unlike a planned project, this project is not included in the WPP scenario for your organisation and SEAI will not publish details for this project.
A ‘potential opportunity’ is a less well-defined project that may be implemented at some future time. You do not have to report an implementation year or energy savings. The project is not included in your organisation's WPP scenario and SEAI will not publish details for this project.
The table below summarises the implications of reporting an energy project with each of the different project statuses.
Implications
Implemented project
Planned project
Tentative project
Potential opportunity
Included in with-planned-projects (WPP) scenario
No
Yes
No
No
SEAI will publish specific project details
Yes
Yes
No
No
The table below summarises the data reporting requirements for a project with each of the different project statuses. (There is also a detailed tabular breakdown of the mandatory and optional data reporting requirements for projects of different status.)
You must report the annual reduction in consumption arising from the project for all relevant energy types. For example:
For a lighting upgrade project, report energy saving of X kWh of electricity
For a project to improve driver behaviour, report energy saving of X kWh of road diesel
For a building retrofit project comprising multiple measures, report energy saving of X kWh of electricity and Y kWh of natural gas
All savings should be expressed in kWh of final energy consumption per annum.
¶ Fuel switching & other projects that increase consumption
Some energy projects result in decreases in the consumption of one energy type and increases in another. For these projects, you should report the increase in consumption as a negative saving. For example:
If replacing diesel vehicles with electric vehicles, report energy saving of X kWh of road diesel and energy saving of minus Y kWh of electricity
If installing solar PV, report energy saving of X kWh of 'net electricity imports' and energy saving of minus Y kWh of ‘onsite RES-E (non-fuel)’
If replacing gas boiler with heat pump, report energy saving of X kWh of natural gas and energy saving of minus Y kWh of electricity
If replacing oil boiler with district heat, report energy saving of X kWh of kerosene and energy saving of minus Y kWh of district heat imported
When calculating energy and emissions savings from projects, it is assumed that the full annual energy saving reported by you is achieved from the implementation year onwards.
The M&R system uses the data reported for your organisation's planned projects to model a future with-planned-projects (WPP) scenario for your organisation's future energy consumption and CO2 emissions out to 2030. The WPP scenario is calculated as follows:
WPP uses your organisation's final energy consumption in the last year for which you reported data as the starting point, e.g. your 2024 data.
It calculates a business-as-usual (BAU) final energy consumption for all future years to 2030, by assuming that your final energy consumption in the years 2025-2030 will remain at the 2024 level.
Your WPP final energy consumption for future years (2025-2030) is calculated by subtracting the energy savings reported by you for each planned project from your BAU energy consumption, from the implementation year of the project. No additional savings are counted for ‘tentative’ or 'potential opportunity' projects.
Your WPP final energy consumption for each year is converted to WPP primary energy using SEAI projections for primary energy conversion factors for the period. The factor used for electricity accounts for anticipated changes to electricity system efficiency in line with SEAI forecasts to 2030. These forecasts incorporate several variables and assumptions, and are refined periodically.
A WPP activity metric is calculated for 2025-2030 by assuming that your activity metric remains constant for all years from 2024 to 2030.
A WPP energy performance indicator (EnPI WPP) is calculated by dividing the WPP primary energy by the WPP activity metric. The EnPI WPP is used to calculate the gap to target between the WPP scenario in each year and the 2030 energy efficiency target.
WPP CO2 emissions are calculated for the years to 2030 using SEAI projections for CO2 emission factors. The factor used for electricity accounts for anticipated changes to the carbon intensity of the electricity system, in line with SEAI forecasts to 2030. These forecasts incorporate several variables and assumptions, and are refined periodically.
The WPP CO2 emissions are used to calculate the gap to target between the WPP scenario in each year and the 2030 emissions reduction targets.
The impact of the WPP scenario on your organisation's gap to the energy efficiency target and the two emissions targets will be published in your organisation's Annual Energy Statement.
SEAI will publish a searchable list of all planned and implemented projects on its website. The following details will be published for each project:
Organisation name
Project name
Project type
Project sub-type
Project status
Implementation year
Duration of energy savings
Energy savings (kWh total)
CO2 savings (kgCO2 total)
No details will be published for projects with status tentative or potential opportunity.
¶ Previously reported projects not visible on new M&R system
As part of the transition to the new M&R software system, SEAI updated and expanded the data reporting requirements for energy-saving projects. The main change is your organisations must now quantify the impact of each project in terms of changes to its annual energy consumption, broken down by energy type. The reason for this is to enable the system to calculate the impact of such projects on the organisation's greenhouse gas emissions.
Arising from this change, some projects that were previously reported via the old M&R software system were not migrated to the new system. Some other projects were migrated to the new system, but it was not possible to migrate energy savings data. This is because there was insufficient data reported for the project in the old system to create a complete record for the project in the new system.
You can request the M&R helpdesk to issue you with a spreadsheet containing all the data that was previously reported for energy projects for your organisation via the old M&R system, i.e. up until end 2023. The spreadsheet provides a breakdown of the data that was and was not migrated to the new M&R system for your organisation.