Renewable Energy Generation Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29 ============================================================ Neale Richmond (FG), Dublin Rathdown I am grateful to the Deputy for raising this pertinent and timely issue. For the benefit of the House, if the Deputy does not mind, I might give a bit of context as requested by the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. The microgeneration support scheme, MSS, provides supports to domestic and non-domestic applicants, in the form of grants for solar PV installations, up to a maximum of €1,800 in 2026 for household installations. As announced this morning, the scheme will also provide as of next week a new €9,000 grant for homeowners in receipt of certain Department of Social Protection payments. The domestic MSS forms part of a wider residential retrofit programme that, in line with eligibility criteria, supports energy efficiency upgrades and the installation of renewable energy technologies in existing housing stock. Since its pilot launch in 2018, the domestic solar PV scheme has gone from strength to strength, with over 123,000 homes being supported. Budget 2026 allocated over €67 million to this year’s scheme and so far this year, over 21,000 homes have been supported. Renewable electricity generation has a strong role to play in promoting innovation and enabling diversification by business. Significant support has been provided to the non-domestic microgen grant, NDMG, operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, on behalf of the Government. This provides financial assistance to help businesses and other sectors to install solar PV panels to generate electricity on site. Through this scheme, grants are available for renewables self-consumers above 50 kW and up to 1 MW, up to a maximum of €162,600. From its launch in 2022 to September 2026, this scheme has supported 3,300 installations totalling over €34 million and the Minister is ambitious to grow this scheme. Associated with these schemes for homes and businesses, the clean export guarantee, CEG, provides an opportunity for micro and small-scale generators to receive payment from their electricity suppliers for excess renewable electricity they export to the grid, as the Deputy has detailed about his constituents in Galway East. The payment from the electricity suppliers is intended to reflect the wholesale market value of the electricity. Applicants can receive both the NDMG and the CEG on an ongoing basis. The flat-rate CEG tariffs on offer from suppliers have generally ranged from circa 16 cent per kilowatt hour to 25 cent per kilowatt hour. Responsibility for the regulation of the electricity and gas markets, including regarding the clean export guarantee, is solely a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, which was assigned responsibility for the regulation of the Irish electricity and gas markets following the enactment of the Electricity Regulation Act 1999. In line with long-standing policy on deregulating price setting, the CRU ended its regulation of retail prices in the electricity market in 2011 and in the gas market in 2014. Price setting by electricity suppliers, including remuneration for microgeneration for householders and businesses, is a commercial and operational matter for the companies concerned. In June 2024, the CRU published its decision paper Clean Export Guarantee: Enduring Arrangements to Remunerate Customers for Microgeneration Exports. It confirmed in that paper that it is of the view that the competitive approach whereby suppliers set their own competitive export tariffs has functioned well and will continue. I am aware, as is the Minister, that there has been some concern that tariffs may diminish. I stress that the Minister has no information which suggests that this is the case. Notwithstanding that, as part of our energy transformation it is important for businesses and households to have maximum flexibility and control in how they consume electricity. As the Deputy mentioned, for that reason the Minister earlier today announced new grants for the installation of batteries. The Deputy raised some serious concerns and offered a proposal that I am not in a position to provide an affirmation on. I will of course refer that back to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-29