For your farm

Farm solar

Parlours, pumps, coolers and workshops draw power during daylight, the same hours a solar array produces. It is one of the best natural matches in Irish solar.

  • 60% TAMS grant rate
  • Up to €54,000
  • Shed and ground-mount options
Aerial view of a builders' merchant, with a run of solar panels down one section of its long roof and timber stacked in the yard

Accredited & registered Athlone · Installing solar since 2013 (13 years)

  • SEAI Registered
  • Safe Electric
  • Solar Ireland Member
  • Athlone Chamber

Why it suits farming

Farm load and solar generation line up

On most holdings, a high share of the electricity a system generates never leaves the farm.

That is the number that decides whether farm solar is worth doing. Milking, plate cooling, bulk tank refrigeration, water pumping, ventilation, meal augers and workshop tools are daytime loads. They draw at the same hours a roof is producing, so units are consumed on site and worth the full price you would otherwise have paid your supplier.

Dairy is the clearest case, because the demand curve is both daytime-weighted and highly predictable. But drystock holdings with significant pumping, storage or workshop load often stack up well too.

The shed is usually the better roof

On most farms the shed beats the farmhouse. Shed and store roofs offer long, clear, unshaded planes with simple mounting and short cable runs to the board. They are cheaper and faster to work on than a complicated dwelling roof, and will generally carry a far larger array.

Aerial view of a warehouse roof covered end to end with solar panels, wind turbines on the skyline behind

Grant support

Solar Capital Investment Scheme (SCIS) under TAMS 3

Farm solar sits outside SEAI. It is supported through TAMS and administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

  • Grant rate

    60%

  • Investment ceiling

    €90,000

    Ring-fenced for solar

  • Maximum grant payable

    €54,000

    60% of €90,000

  • Grant-aided system size

    Up to 62 kWp

A correction worth making

You will see it stated in a lot of places, including until recently on our own website, that the TAMS solar grant is “up to €90,000”. That is not right. €90,000 is the maximum spend the grant is calculated against. At a 60% rate, the maximum payment is €54,000. Better to know that now than at application stage.

The ring-fencing is the valuable part

The solar ceiling is ring-fenced, so it does not consume the investment ceilings available to you for other farm buildings or machinery under TAMS. Battery storage is also eligible, capped at a capacity equal to 50% of the array’s rated size in kWp. One scheme per project though: TAMS funding cannot be combined with the SEAI Non-Domestic grant for the same investment.

Remaining 2026 deadlines: 4 December 2026

TAMS applications are processed in tranches, and the remaining closing date for 2026 is 4 December 2026. Miss a tranche and the application rolls into the next one, but approval, and the installation behind it, move back by months. If you want the system generating before next summer, the paperwork needs to start now.

Design

What we assess on a farm survey

Farm sites raise questions a suburban roof never does. These are the ones that shape the design.

  • Roof structure and sheeting condition

    Older shed sheeting and purlins were not designed with an array in mind. We assess condition and structural capacity before specifying anything, and we will tell you if a roof needs work first.

  • Wind loading and exposure

    Open agricultural sites carry considerably higher wind loading than sheltered suburban roofs, so the mounting system has to be specified for the exposure of your site. That takes real engineering input.

  • Supply capacity and export limits

    On rural networks the existing connection and permitted export can constrain system size. We establish this early so the system we quote is one you can connect and register.

  • Load timing across the year

    A dairy holding’s demand shifts substantially between peak and dry periods. We size against the pattern across the whole year, never a single snapshot.

  • Ground-mount where roofs will not do

    Where no roof suits a decent array, a ground-mounted system removes the constraint entirely and allows optimal orientation and tilt. It carries its own planning considerations, which we work through with you.

  • Corrosive and dusty environments

    Slurry gases, agricultural dust and coastal salt all affect equipment selection and where the inverter should sit. Putting the wrong equipment in the wrong shed is a durability problem that shows up years later.

Good to know

Common questions

The things people ask us most about farm solar PV installation.

Who handles the grant paperwork for a farm or business project?

It depends which scheme you are under. For TAMS, your farm advisor lodges the application and we supply the system specification, quotes and documentation it needs. For the SEAI Non-Domestic Microgen Scheme, the application is made before work starts and we provide the installer detail and the completion documents that release the payment. Either way, no work should start before approval is issued. That means TAMS approval from the Department of Agriculture, or the SEAI letter of offer, and we make sure that order is kept.

What grant is available for farm solar?

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 a capacity equal to 50% of the array’s rated size in kWp.

Can I claim TAMS and the SEAI Non-Domestic grant on the same building?

No. One scheme per project. Solar Capital Investment Scheme (SCIS) under TAMS 3 funding cannot be combined with the SEAI Non-Domestic Microgen Scheme for the same investment, so the choice has to be made before you apply. TAMS is grant-aided at 60% up to a maximum of €54,000 and supports systems to 62 kWp; the SEAI scheme runs to 1000 kWp with a maximum of €162,600, which matters if the holding needs a larger array than TAMS covers. We work out which is worth more on your specific project before anything is submitted.

What happens to the electricity I do not use?

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.

What areas do you cover?

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.

Explore

Other things we do

Most systems we install combine more than one of these. We design them together rather than bolting them on afterwards.

Get started

Let’s look at the holding

We will assess your sheds, your supply and your load, and tell you plainly what is worth doing.

Get a free quoteCall (090) 640 0180

Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm · Free site survey