SEAI Grant Changes October 2026: Battery Grant, Boiler Scrappage and Solar for Newer Homes

On 29 September 2026 the Government announced a package of enhanced SEAI grants, and the measures opened on 6 October 2026. The headline changes for homeowners are a new €600 battery grant, a new €2,000 boiler scrappage grant, and the solar panel grant opening up to homes built before 2025. Businesses get a temporary jump in the commercial solar grant to 45% of eligible costs.

This is a summary of what was announced, taken from the SEAI press release. SEAI has since published the terms for the battery and boiler scrappage grants, which we checked on 4 October 2026, and on 6 October updated its solar PV and solar water heating pages to the before-2025 rule and published the enhanced business solar grant rates. We have marked clearly what is still not confirmed.

The changes at a glance

The new €600 battery grant

For the first time since the old battery grant ended, SEAI will grant-aid home battery energy storage systems, at €600. SEAI estimates a battery saves around €137 a year on its own, or up to €878 a year when installed alongside a 4 kWp solar PV system.

The grant is a flat €600 for a battery of 5 kWh or larger; smaller batteries do not qualify. The home must have been built and occupied before 2025. You can claim it together with the €1,800 solar PV grant in a single application, or on its own, including for a battery added to an existing solar PV system. You need a grant offer from SEAI before work starts, and the battery must be fitted by an SEAI-registered solar PV company. See our solar battery storage guide for costs and sizing.

Solar grant now covers homes built before 2025

Until now, the SEAI solar PV grant was limited to homes built and occupied before 2021. From 6 October 2026 it is available to homes built and occupied before 2025, and the same change applies to the solar thermal grant. SEAI's own solar PV and solar water heating pages confirmed the new rule on 6 October. The grant itself is unchanged: €700 per kWp for the first 2 kWp and €200 per kWp for the next 2 kWp, to a maximum of €1,800.

If your home was built between 2021 and 2024, you can now apply. The new battery grant uses the same before-2025 rule. Other SEAI grants, including the heat pump grant and the new boiler scrappage grant, still require a home built before 2021. Our SEAI grants guide has the full eligibility rules, and the grant checker will tell you what your home qualifies for.

€2,000 boiler scrappage

Homes built before 2021 that replace an oil or gas boiler, a solid fuel system or electric storage heating with a heat pump get an extra €2,000. It is paid in addition to the existing heat pump grant of up to €12,500, bringing the maximum to €14,500, and SEAI says it will be added automatically for homeowners who already have a heat pump application in progress.

It does not fund a new oil or gas boiler, and replacing an existing heat pump does not qualify. See SEAI boiler replacement grants.

Free solar and batteries for lower-income and medically vulnerable households

This is the biggest change for households at risk of energy poverty:

• Warmer Homes Scheme: solar PV (up to 4 kWp) and a 5 kWh battery are now offered as standard under fully funded upgrades.
• Solar PV for the Medically Vulnerable: the fully funded system grows to up to 4 kWp of solar with 5 kWh of battery storage.
• Welfare recipients: eligible homeowners on certain Department of Social Protection payments can get a grant of up to €9,000 toward solar PV (up to 4 kWp) and a 5 kWh battery.
• Renters: a pilot offers up to €9,000 for solar and a battery in Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) tenancies in Dublin, and new attic and cavity wall insulation grants cover homes in HAP and RAS tenancies.

The qualifying payments for the up to €9,000 grant are:

• Fuel Allowance as part of the National Fuel Scheme
• Jobseeker's Allowance for over six months, with a child under seven
• Working Family Payment
• One-Parent Family Payment
• Domiciliary Care Allowance
• Carer's Allowance, living with the person you care for
• Disability Allowance for over six months, with a child under seven

You apply for the new grant through SEAI's individual grants route and choose your own SEAI-registered contractor. Our guides to free solar panels in Ireland and SEAI grants for pensioners cover the Warmer Homes Scheme in detail.

Business solar grant rises to 45%

The Non-Domestic Microgen Grant, the main SEAI grant for solar on business premises, farms, schools and community buildings, rises from about 23% of the cost of installation to 45% of eligible costs. The increase is temporary and runs for 9 months. Grant aid for heat pumps and solar thermal under the Business Energy Upgrades Scheme also moves to 45% of eligible costs.

SEAI has since published the terms: the per-kWp rates are doubled, the maximum grant rises from €162,600 to €325,200, and the grant paid is the lower of the per-kWp figure or 45% of the invoiced cost. The enhanced rate is for new applications from 7 October 2026 to 6 July 2027; existing applications are not increased. See commercial solar grants for a worked example.

What happens next

The measures opened on 6 October 2026. SEAI's application portal was offline during the day while the changes went in and reopened at 5pm. Budget 2027, delivered the same day, allocated €654.5 million to SEAI residential and community upgrade schemes and raised the tax-free threshold for solar export income from €400 to €600 a year from 2027. The Government says an Energy Affordability Action Plan will be published in the weeks after the Budget. The enhanced business solar grant opens for applications at 8am on 7 October 2026. We will update this page and the guides linked above as further detail is published.