2026 grant · Ireland

SEAI Solar Grant & Payback Calculator

The domestic solar grant is capped at €1,800, and payback depends far less on that than on roof orientation, how much of the generation you use yourself, what your supplier pays for the rest and whether a battery is added. The generation figures here were checked against PVGIS, the European Commission's own solar resource data, for ten towns spread across the country, and the yield used sits about 5% below that mean on purpose, because this page prints a payback and a cautious one is more useful than a flattering one.

Personalised answer

Your result stays in view

Complete 3 short steps and this panel fills with your answer.

A direct answer to the question, in one line
The figures behind it, broken down
Practical next steps and the assumptions used

Evidence

The figures this tool uses

€1,800: Maximum domestic solar PV grant; €700 per kWp for the first 2 kWp, then €200 per kWp to 4 kWp. Nothing is added for a battery.; SEAI Solar Electricity Grant · checked 29 August 2026
900 kWh/kWp/year: Generation before orientation is applied; PVGIS gives an average of 945 kWh/kWp for a south-facing array at a 35° pitch across ten Irish towns, from 845 in the north-west to 1,089 in the south-east. 900 is deliberately about 5% below that mean, because this page also prints a payback. A professional estimate models your own roof pitch, horizon and shading and can differ substantially.; PVGIS photovoltaic performance tool (European Commission JRC) · checked 1 September 2026
0.94 and 0.80: What a south-east/west and an east/west roof collect; Measured against the same south-facing array in the same ten towns. The east/west figure was 0.85 until 1 September 2026, which credited a 4 kWp east/west roof with roughly 180 kWh a year it does not generate. The separate shading option remains a Verdanyx judgement: PVGIS can model a horizon, not a chimney nobody told it about.; PVGIS photovoltaic performance tool (European Commission JRC) · checked 1 September 2026
€2,500 + €1,100/kWp: Installed cost when no quote is entered; Plus €3,000 for a 5 kWh battery. Enter your own quote and this estimate is not used at all.; Verdanyx modelling assumption · checked 29 August 2026

Before you begin

What you need to check the solar grant

Use the exact kWp from the quote, not the panel count alone.
Enter your supplier’s export payment and import rate because their spread drives payback.

Reading the answer

Understanding your grant and payback

Payback combines avoided imports and paid exports. It is not a guarantee of future tariff values.

A battery can increase self-consumption while also increasing capital cost enough to lengthen payback.

Boundaries

Assumptions and limitations

Working assumptions

Grant: €700/kWp for the first 2 kWp and €200/kWp for the next 2 kWp, capped at €1,800.
Generation uses 900 kWh/kWp/year before orientation adjustment, which is about 5% below the national mean PVGIS gives for a south-facing Irish roof.
When no quote is entered, cost is estimated as €2,500 plus €1,100/kWp, and €3,000 more for a 5 kWh battery.

Where to be careful

A professional yield estimate should model roof pitch, horizon, shading and local losses.
Approval must be in place before work begins and an SEAI-registered company must be used.

Worked example

The same question, answered end to end

An eligible pre-2021 home pricing a 4.2 kWp south-facing array with no battery, nobody home during the day, importing at 36c and exporting at 20c, with no quote entered.

What was entered

Eligible owner, home built and occupied before 2021, no previous solar grant on the MPRN.
A 4.2 kWp array, south-facing with little shading, no battery.
Nobody usually home during daylight hours.
Importing at 36c per kWh, exporting at 20c. No installer quote entered.

How it is worked out

The grant is €700 per kWp on the first 2 kWp — €1,400 — plus €200 per kWp on the next 2 kWp — €400 — capped at €1,800.
With no quote entered, cost is estimated as €2,500 plus €1,100 per kWp: about €7,120.
Generation is 4.2 kWp × 900 kWh × 1.0 for a south-facing roof: about 3,780 kWh a year.
With nobody home in the day and no battery, 30% is used in the home and the rest exported — reduced slightly because the array is over 4 kWp.
Self-used units save 36c each; exported units earn 20c each. The two together are the annual value.
Payback is the cost after the grant divided by that annual value.

What the tool returns

Estimated installed cost: €7,120
Cost after the grant: €5,320
Annual generation: 3,780 kWh
Simple payback: 5.7 years

Common questions

Questions about this tool

How much is the domestic solar grant in 2026?

SEAI states €700 per kWp up to 2 kWp, then €200 per additional kWp up to 4 kWp, with a maximum of €1,800.

Does adding a battery increase the solar grant?

No standalone battery amount is added to this domestic solar-PV grant calculation.

Maintenance

What has changed in this tool

1 September 2026
Version 2026-09-01.1
The yield figures were checked against PVGIS for the first time. The 900 kWh/kWp headline holds up as a cautious planning number — PVGIS puts the national mean nearer 945 — but the east/west orientation factor was 0.85 against PVGIS's 0.79, so an east/west roof was credited with about 7% more generation than it makes, and every unit of that went into a shorter payback. East/west is now 0.80 and south-east/west 0.94.
29 August 2026
Version 2026-08-29.1
Scheduled re-check against the SEAI Solar Electricity Grant page. The €700/kWp first tier, the €200/kWp second tier, the €1,800 maximum and the pre-2021 build-and-occupation condition were all confirmed unchanged, so no figure moved. SEAI states the disqualifying previous grant is one already paid at the same MPRN, which is what the previous-grant question already asks.
23 July 2026
Version 2026-07-23.1
Current published state: grant bands and cap applied to the quoted array size, with payback built from self-consumption and export separately rather than from generation alone.