Looming cuts to solar grants are 'not in the interests of climate targets', the industry has claimed. 

Currently, people in Ireland installing solar panels receive a grant of up to €1,800 from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). 

As the cost of solar technology declines, the Government has signalled the grant will be reduced accordingly. 

On Breakfast Business with Joe Lynam, Solar Ireland CEO Ronan Power said he hopes Ministers can be persuaded to change their minds. 

“Currenly, we’re lobbying with Government in order to try and see if we can get that to stay in place,” he said. 

“Because I think it’s very, very important, as the numbers show, the residents of Ireland have been deploying solar PV at rate. 

“I think there’s about 140,000 homes connected and there was a study done a couple of years ago that showed that there’s the capability of about a million homes in Ireland that could take solar PV. 

“So, disincentivising that market place wouldn’t be in the best interests of the climate action targets.” 

Solar panels on a roof. Picture by: Pexels.com.

Mr Power continued that “by and large, anything with a roof” can be used for solar power, which explains why there has been such a “huge uplift” in recent years. 

“In the residential space, we’ve seen a huge deployment and an awful lot of solar farms that have been in development for the last number of years are starting to move into the deployment phase,” he said. 

“We’ll continue to see large amounts of PV being connected to the grid.” 

A solar farm in Antrim. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Mr Power added that there are now solar farms “across all types of agricultural land”. 

“They generate considerable amounts of revenue for the farmers over the course of their term,” he said. 

“They put the land to good use in terms of generating renewable energy. 

“And they continue to drive biodiversity at a local level, as well as community benefit funds. 

“Also, the land doesn’t necessarily have to stop being farmed; across in Britain, they’ve moved to quite a bit of sheep farming to maintain the land with the dual use of it.” 

In 2023, 40.7% of Irish electricity supply came from renewable sources.

The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment has been contacted for comment.

Main image: A man installing a rooftop solar panel array. Picture by: Radharc Images / Alamy.