TIME TO INCREASE, NOT PHASE OUT, IRISH SOLAR GRANTS
Updated October 10th, 2025
By Morgan Pierce
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. If it is broken, make sure you fix the right thing. That seems like common-sense advice, but in the case of Ireland’s climate change targets, government is at risk of making the wrong fix at the wrong time.
We’ve long extolled the benefits of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s (SEAI) grant scheme for solar. Since the grant for domestic users was introduced back in 2022, there has been a huge uptick in households going solar – with more than 70,000 systems installed as of December 2024.
But the grants were only ever intended to serve as a sweetener, with the assumption that once the momentum for change had taken hold, the need for the financial incentive would be eliminated. Irish solar grants started out in 2022 at €2,400 but have dropped by €300 a year since then. In 2025, homeowners can expect grant assistance totalling €1,800.
But as things now stand, the Irish solar grant program wraps up at the end of 2028.
From where we sit, that increasingly looks like a mistake.
Last week, the Climate Change Advisory Council – the independent advisory body tasked with assessing and advising on how Ireland can achieve the transition to a climate-resilient, sustainable and climate-neutral economy – issued its annual report on the state of the nation’s “built environment”.
The Built Environment includes residential buildings like homes and apartments. According to the Council’s report, greenhouse gas emissions from residential buildings rose by 4.9% in 2024. That made it the only sector to see emissions increase last year, according to the Council’s chair Marie Donnelly, who called for “urgent action” to address the issue.
Donnelly emphasised the role that growth in the solar sector could have on kerbing emissions from the housing stock. “Government must urgently take action,” she said, “to increase the availability of grants for households focused on the uptake of heat pumps and maintain the level of grants for the installation of solar.”
“The real message here is that we need to have support for people.” Donnelly told RTE. “We need to maintain the grants for solar panels, because the solar panels can produce the electricity for free effectively….”
MREF support for Irish Solar Grants
The Micro-renewable Energy Federation, a membership organisation representing businesses in the renewables sector, joined the call to continue or increase Irish solar grants and energy supports.
MREF chair Ciaran Kells called on the government to reverse plans to reduce the domestic energy grant by a further €300 in January 2026. Instead, the MREF chair advised, government should instead increase the level of domestic grant supports, especially to help homeowners invest in battery storage.
The organisation recommended that government extend the period for which solar grants will be available until at least 2030, and to maintain the current level of grant aid of €1,800.
According to the MREF, continued Irish solar grants represent a “real opportunity” for government to continue to support Irish homeowners to “adopt renewable energy technologies to address rising energy costs and carbon emissions.”
At SolarSmart, we long ago discovered that some potential customers were being held back by confusion about accessing the grant aid that is available. Last year we adopted a policy of taking the grant application process off our customers shoulders and putting it in the hands of our experienced team. With our help navigating the grant process, homeowners can be assured of getting the maximum amount of funding available.
We, too, think solar grants should remain in place – and at the maximum amount feasible – so that the uptake of low-cost, clean solar can continue to grow.
Why Choose Solar In Ireland?
Investing in a solar panel systems in Ireland can bring many benefits, including reduced energy bills, increased energy independence, and a reduced carbon footprint. If you are interested in installing a solar panel system in Ireland, it is also worth exploring the different grant options and green business loans available and seeking professional advice from one of our solar energy advisors.
Feel free to contact us for more information, we’re here to help.
