Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
150. Deputy Joe Neville asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the plans his Department has to upscale and increase the roll out of solar panels across residential, commercial and agricultural sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73235/25]
View answerThe Microgeneration Support Scheme (MSS) was approved by Government on 21 December 2021 to support Ireland’s ambitious targets for micro-generation installations under the Climate Action Plan. The MSS provides supports to both domestic and non-domestic applicants, in the form of grants for solar PV installations, up to a maximum of €1,800 for household installations. These grants are available through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).
Since its launch in 2022, when over 10,000 homes received support, the Domestic Solar PV Grant Scheme has grown each year with 22,214 and 28,000 homes receiving grant support in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
The second phase of the MSS commenced on 22 September 2022, when the SEAI extended the Solar PV Grant Scheme to the non-domestic sector including schools, businesses, small farms and community enterprises. To date over 3,600 applications have been made, supporting over 1,900 installations with a capacity of over 100 MW with grant support of over €21 million.
The Solar PV for the Medically Vulnerable Scheme is a targeted scheme for the installation of solar PV panels for customers/households who are registered on the life support category of the Priority Services Register. These homes have a dependence on electrically powered equipment, including medical equipment, life protecting devices and assistive technologies, including dialysis machines or respirators. As such, these households may have a higher energy demand than the average user and this scheme is designed to go some way towards helping to reduce those energy costs.
The scheme is operated by the SEAI in conjunction with energy suppliers, with each energy supplier contacting their own eligible customers directly in line with the work plans for their solar PV installers. Eligible households can avail of a fully funded 2kWp solar PV system including survey/design, supply, installation, and the post works BER. It is important to note that suppliers, who manage the administrative aspects of the scheme under SEAI, issue offers to eligible homeowners in batches.
Due to the strong uptake and the positive impact already observed in over 470 homes, the scheme is now in the process of being extended to include as eligible all homeowners who are registered under the life support category of the Priority Services Register with their energy supplier, regardless of when they were registered. Energy suppliers will communicate this update to eligible customers as the eligibility criteria are revised, and qualifying homeowners are identified to benefit from the scheme.
