On 29 September 2026 the Government approved a package of SEAI grant changes that opens on 6 October 2026. Two of them matter to anyone pricing solar: a new €600 grant for a home battery, and an extension of solar PV grant eligibility from homes built before 2021 to homes built and occupied before 2025. A third, the €2,000 fossil fuel boiler scrappage grant, took effect immediately and is already being added to live heat pump applications. The headline solar PV grant itself does not change: it stays at €1,800 maximum.
- New home battery grant: €600. Until now no SEAI grant covered a home battery
- Solar PV and solar thermal eligibility extended to homes built and occupied before 2025, up from before 2021
- Boiler scrappage: €2,000 for swapping a fossil fuel heating system in a pre-2021 house. Effective immediately, not 6 October
- Warmer Homes Scheme will include solar PV up to 4 kWp and a 5 kWh battery as standard, fully funded
- Up to €9,000 for solar PV plus battery for homeowners on certain Department of Social Protection payments
- Solar PV grant amount unchanged at €1,800 maximum, €700 per kWp to 2 kWp then €200 per kWp to 4 kWp
- Opens 6 October 2026, subject to final implementation arrangements. Full terms and conditions are not published yet
Ireland Has a Home Battery Grant Again: €600
This is the one people ask about on every quote call. The published measure is a grant for home battery energy storage systems worth €600, with an estimated household saving of up to €137 a year attached to it in the Department's own table.
Until now the honest answer to "is there a battery grant in Ireland?" was no. The Solar Electricity Grant covers panels only, and the thing doing the heavy lifting on battery economics was the 0% VAT rule rather than any grant. That answer changes on 6 October.
What is not yet published is the detail that decides whether €600 is useful to you. The announcement does not state a minimum battery size, whether the battery has to be installed alongside solar panels or can be retrofitted on its own, whether it stacks with the €1,800 solar PV grant on the same job, or whether existing battery owners can claim retrospectively. SEAI's wording is that "full terms and conditions, and details in relation to eligibility, will be available in due course". Treat anything beyond the €600 figure and the 6 October date as unconfirmed until SEAI publishes the scheme rules.
Solar Grant Eligibility Extends to Homes Built Before 2025
The SEAI solar PV grant has always carried a building age rule: your home had to be built and occupied before 2021. That single condition disqualified every newer house, which is why the question "my house was finished in 2022, can I get the grant?" has been one of the most common on this site.
From 6 October 2026 the cut-off moves to built and occupied before 2025. The same extension applies to the solar thermal grant. The grant value does not change: it is still €1,800 maximum, so a newly eligible home gets exactly what an older home gets.
| Rule | Until 5 October 2026 | From 6 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Solar PV grant building age | Built and occupied before 2021 | Built and occupied before 2025 |
| Solar thermal grant building age | Built and occupied before 2021 | Built and occupied before 2025 |
| Maximum solar PV grant | €1,800 | €1,800 (unchanged) |
| Home battery grant | None | €600 |
Source: SEAI, "Minister O'Brien announces enhanced grants", 29 September 2026, and the matching Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment press release of the same date. Measures open 6 October 2026 subject to final implementation arrangements.
If you bought or built a house between 2021 and 2024 and were turned away from the grant, this is the change to act on. SEAI determines building age from the MPRN connection date rather than planning permission, which is explained in full on our page about the building age rule. One condition is unchanged: the grant is not open to an MPRN that has already had solar PV funding.
The €2,000 Boiler Scrappage Grant Is Already Live
Unlike the rest of the package, the €2,000 fossil fuel boiler scrappage grant took effect immediately. It applies to houses built before 2021 that are replacing an oil, gas, solid fuel or electric storage heating system with a heat pump.
SEAI has confirmed that homeowners with a heat pump grant application already in the system get it automatically. That covers both people whose works are not yet complete and people who have submitted their Declaration of Works and are waiting on payment. No action is needed from applicants.
Adding it to the existing bundle takes the heat pump system grant to a total of up to €14,500 for a house:
- Up to €6,500 for the heat pump system itself
- Up to €2,000 for central heating upgrades, where the design requires them (radiators, underfloor)
- €4,000 Renewable Heat Bonus for replacing a fossil fuel or electric storage system
- €2,000 fossil fuel boiler scrappage support
One wrinkle worth knowing if you are reading SEAI's own pages: the grant values table on the heat pump page still shows €12,500 as the maximum for air to water, ground source, exhaust air and water to water systems in a house, and €9,500 for an apartment. Those figures are the bundle before scrappage. The €14,500 total appears in the text above the table. Expect the table to catch up.
Fully Funded Solar and Battery for Lower-Income Households
The largest sums in this package are not aimed at the typical paying customer. They are aimed at households most exposed to energy costs, and they are substantial:
| Who | What they get | Grant |
|---|---|---|
| Warmer Homes Scheme recipients | Solar PV up to 4 kWp plus 5 kWh battery, as standard | Fully funded |
| Homeowners on certain DSP payments | Solar PV up to 4 kWp plus 5 kWh battery | Up to €9,000 |
| Solar PV for the Medically Vulnerable Scheme | Solar PV up to 4 kWp plus 5 kWh battery storage | Fully funded |
| Rental Accommodation Scheme (Dublin pilot) | Solar PV up to 4 kWp plus 5 kWh battery | Up to €9,000 |
| HAP/RAS tenancies | Attic insulation | €1,400 to €2,500 by house type |
| HAP/RAS tenancies | Cavity wall insulation | €900 to €2,300 by house type |
The Department puts the household saving from a 4 kWp system with a battery at up to €878 a year. The seven qualifying Department of Social Protection payments for the €9,000 route are: Fuel Allowance under the National Fuel Scheme; Jobseeker's Allowance for over six months with a child under seven; Working Family Payment; One-Parent Family Payment; Domiciliary Care Allowance; Carer's Allowance where you live with the person you care for; and Disability Allowance for over six months with a child under seven.
Business Solar Grant Rate Almost Doubles, for Nine Months
If you are quoting solar for a farm, a school, a community centre or a business, the Non-Domestic Microgeneration Grant Scheme rate is being temporarily increased from around 23% of installation cost to 45% of eligible costs for a period of nine months. Heat pumps and solar thermal under the Business Energy Upgrades Scheme move to 45% of eligible costs as well.
The Department estimates savings of roughly €12,000 a year for around 1,250 businesses on the solar measure. Because the uplift is explicitly temporary, a business sitting on a solar decision has a window rather than an open door. Our page on the farm and business solar grants covers how the non-domestic scheme works.
What To Do About It
- House built 2021 to 2024? You become eligible for the €1,800 solar grant on 6 October. Get quotes now so you can apply the day the rule changes, and remember you must have grant approval before works start.
- Planning a battery? Wait for SEAI to publish the battery scheme rules before committing, unless your install is imminent. €600 is worth a short wait, not a long one.
- Heat pump application in progress? Do nothing. The €2,000 scrappage uplift is applied automatically if you are eligible.
- On Fuel Allowance or another qualifying payment? Check the Warmer Homes Scheme and the DSP route before paying for anything privately. Fully funded beats €1,800.
- Already have solar with grant funding on the MPRN? The one-grant-per-MPRN rule for solar PV has not changed. Whether a battery grant can be claimed separately is one of the unconfirmed points.
We connect you with SEAI-registered solar installers in your area. They handle the grant application, the NC6 form and the ESB Networks registration. If your home becomes eligible next week, having quotes in hand means you can apply straight away rather than starting from scratch. Free, no obligation.
Get Free Solar Quotes →Why Now
The package came out of the National Energy Affordability Taskforce, set up in June 2025 and chaired by the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment. Its first report fed into Budget 2026, including the extension of the 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity. An Energy Affordability Action Plan is due to follow Budget 2027.
The timing is not accidental: these measures open on 6 October 2026, the same day Budget 2027 is announced, and the Minister has said further measures will be considered in the Budget itself. So this is unlikely to be the last word of the month on energy grants.
Then there is the queue. SEAI reports roughly 100,000 applications processed since the start of 2026, more than double year on year, against a target of 73,000 home energy upgrades and a €640 million retrofit allocation in Budget 2026. More than 120,000 homes have been supported through the solar PV grant scheme to date. Extending eligibility to four more years of housing stock lands on a system that is already busy, so expect processing times to be the thing that bites rather than the grant rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, from 6 October 2026. The Government approved a €600 grant for home battery energy storage systems on 29 September 2026, with an estimated household saving of up to €137 a year. Before that date there was no standalone battery grant. SEAI has not yet published the terms and conditions, so the minimum battery size, whether it must be installed with solar panels, and whether it stacks with the €1,800 solar PV grant are all unconfirmed.
From 6 October 2026, yes. The building age rule for the solar PV grant moves from "built and occupied before 2021" to "built and occupied before 2025". Before that date a 2022 home does not qualify. The grant amount is the same either way: €700 per kWp up to 2 kWp, then €200 per additional kWp up to 4 kWp, capped at €1,800. SEAI checks building age against your MPRN connection date, not planning permission.
No. The maximum domestic solar PV grant stays at €1,800, as SEAI confirms on its own solar electricity grant page. What changed is who can claim it, not how much it is worth. The new money in this package goes to the €600 battery grant, the €2,000 boiler scrappage grant, and much larger fully funded or €9,000 packages for lower-income and medically vulnerable households.
It is already in effect. Unlike the rest of the package, the €2,000 fossil fuel boiler scrappage support applies immediately to eligible applicants. SEAI has confirmed that homeowners with an active heat pump grant application, including those who have already submitted a Declaration of Works and are waiting on payment, will have the €2,000 added automatically with no action required. It applies to houses built before 2021 replacing an oil, gas, solid fuel or electric storage heating system.
Up to €14,500 for a house: up to €6,500 for the heat pump system, up to €2,000 for required central heating upgrades, a €4,000 Renewable Heat Bonus for replacing a fossil fuel or electric storage system, and €2,000 boiler scrappage. SEAI's grant values table still shows €12,500 for a house and €9,500 for an apartment, which is the bundle before the scrappage payment is added. A €200 grant toward the technical assessment is separate again.
Only briefly, and only if a battery is part of your plan. €600 is real money but small against the cost of a battery, and you cannot claim a grant for works that have already started. If your install is months away, the scheme rules will be published long before then. If you have grant approval and a date booked, talk to your installer rather than cancelling anything, because a cancelled and recreated solar PV application is assessed at the grant rates in force on the new application date.
Yes, temporarily. The Non-Domestic Microgeneration Grant Scheme rate rises from around 23% of installation cost to 45% of eligible costs for a nine-month period. Heat pumps and solar thermal under the Business Energy Upgrades Scheme also move to 45%. The Department estimates annual savings of roughly €12,000 for about 1,250 businesses on the solar measure.
Sources: SEAI, "Minister O'Brien announces enhanced grants to help households and businesses reduce energy costs and move away from fossil fuels", 29 September 2026; Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment press release, 29 September 2026; SEAI Solar Electricity Grant and Heat Pump System Grant scheme pages. All checked 1 October 2026. Measures open 6 October 2026 subject to final implementation arrangements, and full terms and conditions have not been published.