Ireland brings back a battery grant, €600 per home, from 6 October
Victoria Shinder1 min readIreland has approved a new package of energy grants for homes and businesses that takes effect on 6 October, pv magazine reports. Its most notable element is a residential battery grant of up to €600, which the solar industry had been asking to have reintroduced.
The existing grant of up to €1,800 for homeowners installing solar panels stays, and from 6 October eligibility extends to newer homes built and occupied before 2025. Lower-income households can receive up to €9,000 to install solar with batteries, and solar-plus-storage will be fully funded for people classed as medically vulnerable; in both schemes the support covers batteries of up to 5 kWh and panels of up to 4 kW. The package also includes a €2,000 grant for replacing a boiler with a heat pump.
For businesses, the government says those using the enhanced solar support could cut annual energy costs by up to €300,000, and that grants for solar thermal systems and heat pumps could deliver savings of up to 45%. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, which runs the schemes, reports a 200% rise in applications for some grants this year. Solar Ireland's chief executive Ronan Power said batteries let households use more of their own solar power and rely less on the grid at peak times.
The measures come ahead of the 2027 budget, and climate and energy minister Darragh O'Brien said more steps will be considered there; the government says it has introduced more than €1.4 billion in energy affordability measures since March.
Why it matters
A modest battery grant matters in a market where rooftop solar already has support: it shifts the value of a home system from exporting at midday to covering the evening peak, which is the hour that stresses Ireland's grid.