Cavan County Council

How do we know this information?

Cavan answered promptly to our FoI request.  We found issues accessing financial information in Southern Councils which we have addressed in detail under Donegal Council Council .

Summary of County Cavan

Energy Efficiency Cavan County Council does have an impressive energy efficiency campaign running for the last 10 years and has reduced its cost by 27.8 % over the 2010 base year with a value of €321,265pa.  Unlike a lot of Councils in Ireland it has a grip on its expenditure on fossil fuel energy currently running at €1,476,897

Own Investments Cavan had no any PV or wind farms of its own to generate cash to support front line services common in English County Councils. See West Suffolk

Rates From Renewables Wind farms and energy savings together amounted to 16% of rates and when the National Grid is taken into account 25% of rates. Cavan has the same issues as other Southern Councils in that its financial systems do not let it ‘see’ for any of the 9 types of renewable energy except . So there may be other types of renewable energy in Cavan.

Organised Plan.  Cavan does not have plan for the energy transition. The Council appears to have no plans to maximise the financial benefits to itself of the energy transition. The Council seemed unaware that ‘green energy jobs’ are forecast to grow to 125,000 in the Republic and 42,000 in Northern Ireland by 2030. An opportunity one would think would be especially useful to Cavan given its geography.

See the breakdown summary of the Council here:

Annual €
Rates Income from Renewable Energy Projects € 1,916,334.00 IE  16% of rates or more
Income from renewable energy nil
Cumulative annualised savings from energy savings campaign €  321,265.21
Savings from the electrification of Council’s vehicle fleet nil
Rates Income from fossil fuel/nuclear electricity plant or gas network € 429,409.81
Rates Income from grid infrastructure and related plant € 1,457,226.54
Total 4,124,234 or possibly more – see above

 

Council’s Reply

This Council replied to us early in the campaign promptly and professionally before we really knew all the questions to ask. See our research here  Tailte centrally calculated values

We are preparing a more comprehensive 22/23 EU Directive Information request to Cavan on the energy transition Asking how Cavan plans to maximise the financial benefits of the forecasted six-fold increase in rates from renewable projects and  ‘green energy ’ jobs which are forecast to grow to 125,000 in the Republic and 42,000 in Northern Ireland by 2030. An opportunity one would think would be especially useful to Cavan given its geography.

A PDF of the Council’s  2020/21 response is here Cavan reply