Ireland Broadens Home Energy Grants to Include Battery Storage

Ireland is expanding its residential clean-energy support scheme starting 6 October, adding battery storage to a programme that previously focused on solar panels alone. Households can now claim up to €600 toward the cost of a storage unit, while those in lower income brackets may receive a combined package of up to €9,000 covering both generation and storage.

The updated scheme also widens eligibility by including homes completed and occupied as recently as 2025, and will cover the full installation cost for medically vulnerable residents fitting hybrid solar-plus-storage systems. Grant-eligible solar arrays are capped at 4 kW, and qualifying batteries at 5 kWh. A separate incentive of €2,000 per household encourages switching from ageing boilers to heat pumps.

Business owners stand to benefit as well. Expanded commercial solar support could help companies trim annual energy bills by up to €300,000, and the government projects that solar thermal systems combined with heat pumps may reduce energy expenditure by as much as 45 percent.

The industry group Solar Ireland argues that pairing generation with storage lets owners use more of what they produce, eases pressure on the grid during demand peaks, and provides a buffer against unpredictable future electricity prices.

Demand for grants has already surged: the state agency SEAI has recorded a 200 percent rise in applications for certain incentives. Policymakers plan to evaluate additional measures when drafting the 2027 budget.

Source: PV Magazine