We Need Your Help: Should solar panels be mandatory on New Build homes?

We want your view on whether new build homes in Ireland should be required to come with solar panels installed.

Author

Briain Kelly
January 30, 2025

Hello ,

We at EnergyEffciency.ie want to get your input on how Ireland should meet its goal of generating 80% of electricity from renewables by 2030.

What we want to know from you is if you think solar panels should be mandatory on new build homes in Ireland to help save homeowners money.

Click through on our poll below if you have a view on the subject.

POLL: Should New Build homes be required to have solar panels? - Energy Efficiency

Solar Power is a rapidly growing sector of Ireland’s renewable electricity capacity, and no small part of that comes from rooftop solar panels on homes and businesses. Rooftop solar has none on the long term planning and bureaucratic hurdles which comes with solar or wind farms, and is more affordable than ever.

energyefficiency.ie/blog/poll-should-new-build-homes-be-required-to-have-solar-panels

The government has ambitious targets which includes 8GW of solar power capacity by the end of the decade.

Much of this will come from utility scale solar farms, but microgeneration on houses, apartment blocks, and businesses will also play a significant role.

The SEAI provides up to €1,800 in grant assistance for homeowners to install solar panels. However, this grant is only available for homes built and occupied before 2021.

Since then 78,631 houses alone have been built in the country. Houses which are not eligible for the SEAI grant, and are also more likely to use electricity for their heating, giving them an even greater demand.

Would it be best for the government to legislate that newly built houses and apartment blocks must have solar panels installed as standard? This would certainly help Ireland meet its renewable energy targets, and reduce electricity bills for homeowners.

Please let us know your view.