Solar PPAs in Ireland: PPA vs Buying Outright

Facts checked 25 July 2026. PPA pricing is contract-specific. The figures here describe structure, not a quote.

A Solar Power Purchase Agreement is an arrangement where someone else pays for the solar system on your roof, and you buy the electricity it produces. There’s no capital outlay and no maintenance responsibility. In exchange you sign a long contract and take a smaller share of the savings.

We offer both routes, outright installation and PPAs, so we have no reason to push you toward either.

How a PPA works

• The provider designs, funds, installs, owns, insures and maintains a solar system on your premises.
• You commit to buying the electricity it generates, at a rate set below your grid rate, typically for 10–25 years.
• At the end, depending on the contract: buy the system at market value, extend the agreement, or have it removed.

The provider’s return comes from the spread between what the system costs to run and the rate you pay. Your saving is the gap between the PPA rate and your grid rate. It’s real from month one, but smaller than if you owned the asset.

PPA or buy?

Buy outright if you can. Ownership captures the whole benefit: the NDMG grant (PPA providers claim it instead and pass it through in the rate), Accelerated Capital Allowances against year-one tax, and every unit at full value for 25+ years. Over the life of the system, ownership beats a PPA on total euros in almost every realistic scenario.

A PPA still makes sense in a few situations:

• Capital is better used elsewhere. If money invested in the business returns more than the solar spread, keeping it in the business is the right call.
• You want no operational involvement. Performance risk, maintenance, insurance and inverter replacement all sit with the provider, usually with a generation guarantee.
• The balance sheet matters to you. PPA payments are an operating cost, with no debt and no depreciation schedule.
• You plan to stay in the building but can’t be certain. Contracts can carry assignment provisions for a property sale. That is exactly the clause to have your solicitor read twice.

The trade-offs:

• 10–25 years is a longer commitment than most business plans.
• The equipment belongs to the provider, so changes need their agreement.
• You will pay more over the term than an owner would.
• Providers fund the asset, so they will underwrite your credit.

Questions to ask any PPA provider (including us)

1. What is the starting rate, and what is the annual escalation? Fixed-with-escalation of 1–3% is typical. Model the final-year rate, not the first-year one.
2. What happens if the system underperforms? Is there a guaranteed generation floor with compensation?
3. What are the end-of-term options, and how are they priced?
4. What happens if we sell the building?
5. Who insures what, and who pays for the inverter replacement mid-term?

A provider that answers all five in writing is worth talking to. One that gets vague on question 3 or 4 is not.

Our advice

If your business is profitable, has the cash or cheap finance, and intends to stay in the building, own the system. You keep the grant, the allowances and the full savings. If capital is tight or you want energy-as-a-service simplicity, a well-drafted PPA is a sensible route that beats doing nothing by a wide margin every year it runs.

The worst option is the third one: leaving a large daytime load unserved at Irish commercial electricity prices.

Ask us to model both options for your site and we’ll show the arithmetic side by side. (090) 640 0180.