Updated 4 November 2026, after the SEAI changes that took effect on 6 October. Schemes do change, so check the SEAI Solar Electricity Grant page before you sign anything, or ring us and we’ll tell you where you stand.
October 2026 was the biggest shake-up of the solar grants in years. Newer houses now qualify, there’s a battery grant again, and the business grant has doubled for nine months. A lot of what’s online was written before any of that happened, so here’s where things stand now.
Homes: the SEAI Solar PV Grant
The home grant is still worth up to €1,800, paid like this:
- €700 per kWp for the first 2 kWp
- €200 per kWp after that, up to 4 kWp
| System size | Grant |
|---|---|
| 2 kWp | €1,400 |
| 3 kWp | €1,600 |
| 4 kWp or larger | €1,800 |
The grant stops growing at 4 kWp. That doesn’t make a bigger system a bad idea, but the extra panels have to pay for themselves through what you use, not through the grant.
What changed on 6 October
The age cut-off moved. The house now has to have been built and occupied before 2025. Until October it was before 2021, so if you were turned down because your house was too new, it’s worth asking again.
There’s a battery grant again. SEAI now pays a flat €600 towards a home battery of 5 kWh or more. A smaller battery gets nothing, and a bigger one doesn’t get more. You can claim it with the solar grant, or on its own if you already have panels. Panels and a battery together can get €2,400.
A much bigger grant for some households. If you own and live in the house and you get Fuel Allowance, Working Family Payment, One-Parent Family Payment, Domiciliary Care Allowance or Carer’s Allowance (living with the person you care for), the solar grant goes up to €8,400 for a 4 kWp system, or €9,000 with a battery. Jobseeker’s Allowance and Disability Allowance also count if you’ve been getting them for over six months and have a child under seven. Landlords with a long-term RAS tenant in one of the Dublin councils can get the same higher grant.
The rules
- You own the house. Landlords can apply too.
- It was built and occupied before 2025. That means when it was finished and lived in, not when you bought it.
- It hasn’t had a solar PV grant before. It’s one per home (per MPRN).
- The installer is on SEAI’s register. If they’re not, there’s no grant, however good the work.
- A BER is done after the job. There’s no minimum rating, but the BER has to be published before SEAI pays, so book the assessor as soon as you have an install date.
And the one that costs people money: don’t let anyone start until your grant offer has arrived. Work that starts early isn’t eligible. Once you have the offer you have eight months to get it done.
The grant is paid to you by SEAI after the job is finished and the paperwork is in. Allow four to six weeks.
Two other things worth knowing
VAT. Solar panels supplied and fitted on a private home are charged at 0% VAT, and a battery fitted under the same contract is 0% too. That should already be in the price you’re quoted. Budget 2027 didn’t change it.
Tax on export income. The first €400 a year you earn from selling electricity back to the grid is tax-free until the end of 2028. Budget 2027 announced an increase to €600, which kicks in once it’s passed into law.
Businesses: the Non-Domestic Microgen Scheme
This is the one that changed most. For applications made between 6 October 2026 and 6 July 2027, SEAI has doubled every rate in the table:
| System size | Standard rate | Until 6 July 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 kWp | €900 | €1,800 |
| 2 kWp | €1,800 | €3,600 |
| 3 kWp | €2,100 | €4,200 |
| 4–6 kWp | €2,400 | €4,800 |
| 7–20 kWp | +€300 per kWp | +€600 per kWp |
| 21–200 kWp | +€200 per kWp | +€400 per kWp |
| 201–1,000 kWp | +€150 per kWp | +€300 per kWp |
| Maximum (1,000 kWp) | €162,600 | €325,200 |
So a 20 kWp system on a workshop roof gets €13,200 instead of €6,600, and a 200 kWp system on a factory gets €85,200 instead of €42,600.
There’s one catch. Under the higher rates SEAI pays the table figure or 45% of the invoiced cost, whichever is lower. The doubled table works out close to 45% of a typical job anyway, so on a keenly priced job the 45% figure is often the one that applies. Your quote should show both.
Two more things to know. Applications made before 6 October stay on the old rates, because state aid rules don’t allow SEAI to top them up. And batteries aren’t covered by this scheme at all, only the panels.
Businesses, farms, schools, public bodies, sports clubs and community groups can all apply. The building needs its own MPRN, and the installer has to be SEAI-registered. There’s more on how a business application runs in our business grant guide.
Farms: TAMS 3
Farm solar can go through the Solar Capital Investment Scheme under TAMS 3, run by the Department of Agriculture rather than SEAI.
- 60% grant rate
- against a ring-fenced €90,000 investment ceiling
- so the most it pays is €54,000
People mix those two numbers up all the time. We used to have it wrong on our own old website. €90,000 is the most you can spend and have grant-aided. €54,000 is the most you can get. Because the ceiling is ring-fenced, it doesn’t eat into your TAMS allowance for sheds or machinery.
Systems are covered up to 62 kWp, and a battery is covered up to half the array’s size in kWp. Applications are handled in tranches, and the last one for 2026 closes on 4 December. The Department moves these dates now and again, so check before you plan around one.
You can’t use TAMS and the SEAI business grant on the same job. Now that the SEAI rates are doubled, the SEAI route is sometimes worth more for a farm, and it doesn’t run in tranches. TAMS still covers a battery and the SEAI scheme doesn’t. We price a farm job both ways before anything is lodged.
Don’t let the grant pick the system size
The grant is a fixed contribution. What decides whether solar pays is how much of the electricity you use yourself. A dairy, a workshop or a cold store uses power all through the daylight hours and will use most of what the panels make. A house that’s empty from eight to six will export a lot of its summer output unless there’s a battery. That’s what we look at first on a survey, before anyone counts panels.
Where to check
- Home solar and battery grants: SEAI Solar Electricity Grant
- Business grant: SEAI Non-Domestic Microgen Grant
- Farms: Solar Capital Investment Scheme
Or get in touch and we’ll tell you what you qualify for.