Straight answers to the usual questions

The SEAI Solar PV Grant is worth up to €1,800. It is paid at €700 per kWp for the first 2 kWp installed, then €200 for each additional kWp up to 4 kWp. So a 2 kWp system attracts €1,400 and a 4 kWp or larger system attracts the full €1,800.

Your home needs to be in Ireland and to have been built and occupied before 1 January 2021, you need a BER assessment on file (there is no minimum rating), and the work has to be carried out by an SEAI-registered installer. Lumen Solar is an SEAI-registered Solar PV company, so your installation qualifies.

We guide you through it. For the home solar grant, you apply to SEAI yourself — it is a short online application — and we give you every detail it asks for, then handle the installer declarations, the ESB Networks notification and the completion documents that release the payment. Whichever scheme applies, no work should start before your grant approval is issued — the SEAI letter of offer, or TAMS approval from the Department of Agriculture for farm projects. We make sure that sequencing is right.

It depends on the roof and the equipment, which is why we quote from a survey rather than a price list. Domestic solar is zero-rated for VAT, and the €1,800 SEAI grant comes off what you pay. Your quotation names the exact equipment and the exact price, with the payback calculation and its assumptions written down.

For the domestic SEAI grant, the money is normally paid to you by SEAI after the installation is completed and the post-works documentation — including the BER assessment — has been submitted. Your quotation from us shows the full price and the grant separately, so there is no ambiguity about what you pay and what comes back.

The SEAI Non-Domestic Microgen Scheme supports non-domestic solar installations up to 1000 kWp, with a maximum grant of €162,600. Support is tiered by system size, so the rate per kWp reduces as the system gets larger. Businesses, farms, schools, public sector bodies, community groups and non-profits can all apply.

Farm solar is supported through the Solar Capital Investment Scheme (SCIS) under TAMS 3, administered by the Department of Agriculture rather than SEAI. It is grant-aided at 60% against a ring-fenced investment ceiling of €90,000 — so the maximum grant payable is €54,000. Systems are grant-aided up to 62 kWp, and battery storage is eligible up to 50% of the solar PV output in kWp.

Export payments come from your electricity supplier under the Clean Export Guarantee, not from the government. When we commission your system we notify ESB Networks (the NC6 or NC7 form), which is what registers you as a microgenerator; your supplier then applies its export rate to your account. With a smart meter your actual export is measured; rates vary by supplier, so it is worth comparing.

Enough to cover your evening and overnight consumption, and little more — capacity beyond what you can cycle daily earns nothing. For many Irish homes that lands somewhere between 5 and 15 kWh, but the honest answer comes from your consumption pattern, which is what we model at survey stage before recommending a size.

Solar PV normally improves a BER, because it reduces the calculated primary energy use of the home — and a post-works BER assessment is part of the SEAI grant process anyway. On insurance: tell your insurer you have added solar, as with any alteration to the building. Cover for panels is routine.

Yes. Solar PV responds to daylight, not heat or direct sunshine, so panels generate on bright overcast days as well as clear ones. Output is strongly seasonal in Ireland — summer generation is far higher than winter — which is why we size a system around your year-round consumption pattern rather than a headline figure.

Most domestic rooftop installations in Ireland fall under planning exemptions, and exemptions for rooftop solar have been broadened considerably in recent years. Exemptions carry conditions, and some buildings — protected structures and certain locations in particular — are treated differently. We confirm the position for your specific property at survey stage and tell you plainly if permission is needed.

A typical domestic installation is completed in a small number of days on site once the system is designed, the grant offer is in place and materials are scheduled. Commercial and farm projects run longer and are phased around your operations. We give you a specific timeline in your quotation rather than a generic estimate.

Not necessarily. A battery makes the strongest case where a lot of your consumption happens in the evening, after generation has dropped off, or where you want backup during an outage. If your building consumes most of its electricity during daylight hours — which is common for businesses and farms — a battery matters less. We model your consumption before recommending one.

We install glass-glass panels — glass on both faces rather than a plastic backsheet — which carry a 30-year warranty. The inverters and batteries we fit are warranted for 10 years or more, and an inverter should still be expected to need replacement at least once over the life of the system. Your quote names the exact equipment and its exact warranty terms.

You have three options and most systems use all of them: use it in the building as it is generated, store it in a battery for later, or export it to the grid. Exported electricity is paid for by your supplier under the Clean Export Guarantee. The rate you receive is set by your electricity supplier, so it is worth comparing.

Only if the system is specified for it. Backup requires compatible equipment and additional wiring so the system can safely disconnect from the grid and continue supplying your building. Not every battery installation includes this by default, so tell us at the outset if outage protection matters to you.

Usually yes, though it depends on your existing inverter and consumer unit. Some systems accept a battery directly, others need an additional AC-coupled unit. We can assess a system we did not install and tell you what is possible before you commit to anything.

They need very little, but "very little" is not "none". Irish conditions bring moss, lichen, salt and agricultural dust, and soiling reduces output gradually enough that owners often do not notice. Periodic inspection, cleaning where needed, and monitoring so faults are caught early are what keep an array performing across its full life.

We are based in Blyry Business & Commercial Park in Athlone and work across the Midlands and nationwide. Athlone, Mullingar, Tullamore, Longford, Ballinasloe, Roscommon and the surrounding counties are our home patch, and we travel further for commercial and farm projects.

Call us on the number at the top of this page or send an enquiry through the site. We will talk through what you need, arrange a free site survey, and give you a written quotation with the system design, the equipment specified and the grant position set out clearly.