Irish government allocates €380m for homes and community grants scheme

Oct,18,2023

namkoo solar

Under the 2024 budget, the Irish government has earmarked some EUR 380 million (USD 403 million) for the country's Homes and Communities Grant Upgrade Program, which includes solar PV installation projects. However, the head of the Local Energy Association reminded PV Magazine that the new budget may not be 'quite as generous' as it was first announced.

The Irish government has allocated EUR 380 million (USD 403 million) to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland for the Homes and Communities Upgrade Program, which includes a solar PV grant program for homeowners. This has been described as the "biggest budget ever".

The Irish government made the announcement under the slogan "Energy Transition" in its budget for 2024, which was released on Tuesday. The government said the allocation, which represents a €24 million increase on last year's budget, "will continue to create momentum towards our national transformation goals".

Eamon Ryan, Ireland's Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, said the country had installed 231% more solar panels in the first half of 2023 than last year. Subsequently, the government also took action to cut VAT. The announcement said that 21,000 households are expected to receive solar subsidies by the end of this year.

However, Conall Bolger, CEO of the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA), told PV Magazine today that the budget "may not be quite as generous as it was when it was first announced". While he is very supportive of some of the government's measures, such as the new low-interest rooftop solar loan program and the doubling of tax credits for households selling excess solar power back to the grid, some of the tools lacked urgency and "couldn't be turned into meaningful action".

Bolger said data provided by ESB Networks, Ireland's electricity supply authority, shows that 616 MW of rooftop and ground-mounted PV systems have been connected to the national grid in Ireland by the end of 2022. The authority expects grid-connected capacity to reach 1,060 MW by the end of 2023, he said.

In broader comments made in response to the budget, Bolger said he was critical of the government's failure to remove tax barriers that prevent farmers from leasing land for solar development. "At the heart of Ireland's decarbonization plan is the Government's stated ambition to increase solar power generation to 8 GW by 2030," he explained.

"This will require the development of around 25,000 acres of solar farms within this decade. And to make this happen, we need farmers across the country to work together. All farming families are well aware of the tax exemptions that allow them to pass on land to the next generation without paying punitive taxes. And inexplicably, this does not apply in the case of land where solar panels are used on more than 50 percent of the area."

Bolger also wants the government to remove the "arbitrary rules" used to "penalize" farmers for developing renewable energy. He said there was a growing demand from home and business owners to install rooftop solar photovoltaic panels, and that meeting that demand would require more trained tradespeople to install the technology.