Reports

Solar Ireland's flagship summer campaign, No Rooftop Left Behind, showcases the communities, businesses, and installers behind Ireland's best solar rooftop PV installations.

Using case studies from member companies, the No Rooftop Left Behind campaign aims to accelerate the adoption of rooftop solar across the country — from homes and farms to schools and heritage buildings. With over 1 million homes suitable for solar PV, Ireland has enormous untapped potential.

Solar is fast becoming one of the main pillars of Ireland's clean energy transition. In just two years, Ireland’s installed solar capacity has increased by 159.8%.

Scale of Solar 2025 showcases this extraordinary growth and explores where we go next. As we build generation for generations, this report shines a light on the projects, people, and policies powering Ireland’s solar future.

With new forecasts, fresh data, and a sharper focus on impact—from biodiversity to battery storage—this edition offers both a snapshot of progress and a guide to what’s needed to reach our 8GW target by 2030.

Commissioned by Solar Ireland, this report assesses the economic benefits of the Irish solar energy industry, find that if the Climate Action Plan targets are met, the sector will contribute over €2.3 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the Irish economy between 2025 and 2030, while supporting up to 7,000 jobs across the country.

This report highlights the value of solar in Ireland, both in driving carbon reduction and delivering economic and social benefits - creating sustainable jobs, strengthening rural communities, and ensuring Ireland meets its climate commitments.

Discover the latest findings from the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA) in our 2024 Scale of Solar report.

Ireland has experienced a remarkable 42.6% increase in solar capacity, now reaching 1,185MW. This surge is equivalent to powering 280,000 homes annually, reduce carbon emissions by 270,000 tonnes, and includes 373MW from domestic rooftops.

The report underscores solar energy's pivotal role in Ireland's renewable future, with insights from key leaders shaping the nation's sustainable energy landscape.

This Best Practice Guidance Report has been prepared by Fehily Timoney and Company (FT) and the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA) to assist potential developers, stakeholders and Local Authorities in site selection, preparation of applications for planning consent and considerations relating to construction, associated infrastructure and operational procedures from a planning and environmental perspective.

The Irish Solar Energy Association's ‘Scale of Solar’ report highlights the remarkable growth of solar energy in Ireland and its significant impact on redefining our dependency on fossil fuels. This report sheds light on the country's burgeoning solar capacity and underscores the importance of embracing solar energy as a key driver of Ireland's sustainable future.

Our RESS-3 report, produced by AFRY, found that increasing solar capacity will result in a more balanced energy mix and, since RESS-3 solar is curtailed less than RESS-3 onshore wind, this allows for increased electricity generation from renewables in Ireland. Society benefits as solar predictably generates energy at peak day-time hours, displacing fossil fuel-based electricity generation, and leading to lower electricity prices and lower emissions.

This report found that solar projects face fewer planning hurdles and navigate the planning process relatively quickly, meaning that these projects have a high success rate in receiving grid connection offers. This speed is vital for achieving our 2030 targets, which would be made easier with the removal of barriers to solar deployment in Ireland.

Following the RESS-2 auction, KPMG was commissioned by the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA) to model a Reference Case solar project and identify the impact that single assumption changes can have on the strike price required to maintain a given level of return. The sensitivities set out in this report should hopefully serve as aid to solar energy developers in understanding the key value drivers in their projects, as well as policymakers in how their decisions on various policy matters (e.g. inflation, rates, etc.) directly impact on the RESS strike price required by projects.

This analysis shows that there are significant potential financial savings for people from their rooftops. Beyond the positive impact on increasing energy bills, solar PV provides an option for people to directly participate in the battle against climate change. Solar panels could be the entry point for many people on their sustainability journey.

The Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA) commissioned KPMG to carry out a piece of bespoke financial modelling, relating to the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) auction, to identify the impact single assumption changes to a Reference Case project can have on the required strike price for the project to ensure the same project return.

In conjunction with the 'Value of Solar in Ireland' report, this study shows that a more balanced mix of wind and solar is beneficial for consumers, due to lower expected PSO costs that more than offset the higher wholesale prices; the wind industry, due to lower curtailment and higher capture prices; EirGrid/SONI, because there is less curtailment to deal with; and the government, due to lower emissions.

This study, produced by AFRY and commissioned by ISEA, finds that achieving the 2030 RES-E ambitions through a more balanced mix of new wind and solar leads to a number of benefits to society in the Republic of Ireland when compared to a scenario that relies more heavily on new wind developments alone.