Solar panels for offices and commercial buildings in Ireland
Cut weekday electricity costs, strengthen your BER and support your sustainability reporting. We explain grants, tax relief, landlord–tenant questions and planning, then match you with SEAI-registered installers for quotes.
Get Solar QuotesCheck Your Grant OptionsWhy solar suits offices
Offices use most of their electricity on weekdays between roughly 8am and 6pm – the same hours solar panels produce. For owners and occupiers, solar is also about the building: its BER, its appeal to tenants, and the emissions data larger clients increasingly ask for.
Weekday load, weekday sun
Lighting, ventilation, cooling, IT and kitchens run through the working day, so a well-sized system is used mostly on site. Summer cooling peaks line up with peak solar output.
A better building
On-site renewables can help new and renovated buildings meet Building Regulations, and a better-performing building is easier to let, finance and sell. Solar is one of the few upgrades that also earns money every sunny day.
Lower Scope 2 emissions
Every unit generated on site is a unit not bought from the grid, reducing the purchased-electricity (Scope 2) emissions that businesses report to banks, clients and, for the largest companies, under EU rules.
Office energy-use profile
We don’t publish generic office consumption figures – use 12 months of half-hourly data from your smart meter or supplier, which installers need to size the system. Typical loads:
Weekday daytime
- Lighting (often the easiest saving with LED and controls).
- Heating, ventilation and air conditioning, including heat pumps.
- Desks, screens, printers, meeting-room AV.
- Kitchens, canteens, lifts and hot water.
Evenings, weekends & 24/7
- Server and comms rooms and their cooling run continuously.
- Security, emergency lighting and BMS.
- Hybrid working can lower Monday/Friday loads.
- Weekends: little demand, so surplus is exported or stored.
Weekend surplus is the main thing that differs from retail. Installers should show what share of output you’ll use yourself, how much is exported under the Clean Export Guarantee, and whether a battery or EV charging could absorb the difference.
Typical system sizes & roof options
Office roofs are often smaller than the floor area they serve, especially on multi-storey buildings, and they’re crowded with plant, lift overruns and rooflights. So the roof, not demand, often limits system size. Installers will assess:
Flat roofs
Ballasted or fixed east–west frames, kept clear of plant, fall-arrest systems and fire access. The roof membrane’s age and warranty matter: re-roof first if it’s near the end of its life.
Pitched & older buildings
Period offices, protected structures and buildings in Architectural Conservation Areas need extra care with planning (see below).
Car parks & business parks
Solar canopies over parking can add capacity where roofs are full, and pair well with EV charging. They usually need planning permission. Try our solar carport calculator.
More on panel and inverter types in our system options guide.
Grants & tax for office solar
SEAI Non-Domestic Microgen Grant. For new applications between 6 October 2026 and 6 July 2027, SEAI pays the lower of its table and 45% of invoiced cost, up to €325,200. Conditions include an SEAI-registered installer, a contract signed before you apply, no works before the letter of offer, premises built before 31 December 2024, one solar PV system per MPRN, and no stacking with other grant schemes (SEAI terms). Batteries attract no extra grant.
Accelerated Capital Allowances. Extended to 31 December 2030 under s.285A TCA 1997 (Revenue eBrief 028/2026). Photovoltaic systems and inverters appear in the “Heating and Electricity Provision” category of SEAI’s Triple E Register. Whether the owner or the tenant can claim depends on who incurs the cost – ask your accountant.
VAT. The 0% rate applies only to private dwellings and recognised schools; offices may be at the reduced rate on supply-and-install, subject to the two-thirds rule (Revenue).
Checked 25 Oct 2026. See our solar grants guide.
| 1 kWp | €1,800 |
| 2 kWp | €3,600 |
| 3 kWp | €4,200 |
| 4–6 kWp | €4,800 |
| 7–20 kWp | €600 per kWp |
| 21–200 kWp | €400 per kWp |
| 201–1,000 kWp | €300 per kWp |
| Maximum grant | €325,200 |
For new applications from 6 Oct 2026 to 6 Jul 2027, SEAI pays the lower of the table amount and 45% of your invoiced cost (ex VAT). Your installer should show the grant calculation for your exact system size in writing. Checked 25 Oct 2026 – confirm on SEAI before you sign.
Landlord & tenant: who pays, who benefits?
The “split incentive” is the biggest barrier to office solar: the landlord owns the roof, but the tenant pays the electricity bill. It can be solved, but agree the points below in writing before anyone applies for a grant.
If you’re the landlord
- Single-let building: you can install and recover the cost through rent, a service charge or by selling the electricity to the tenant at an agreed rate. Get legal advice on how.
- Multi-let building: the simplest set-up is often to connect solar to the landlord’s common-area supply (lifts, lighting, HVAC) and pass savings through the service charge.
- Factor in roof warranties, re-roofing plans and insurance.
- A better BER can help lettings and future compliance.
If you’re the tenant
- You’ll need the landlord’s written consent for roof works.
- Check your remaining lease term against the payback period you’re quoted.
- Agree who owns the system at lease end – removed, left for the landlord, or bought out.
- Agree who maintains, insures and repairs it, and access rights.
- Ask whether a green lease clause or a landlord-funded installation is on the table.
Remember SEAI funds one system per MPRN, so decide early whose meter the panels connect to.
BER, Building Regulations & the EU buildings directive
Non-domestic BER
A BER has been required for new non-domestic buildings since July 2008 and for selling or letting existing ones since January 2009; since January 2013, BER information must appear in sale and rental adverts. Non-domestic BERs use SEAI’s NEAP methodology (CSO). Ask your BER assessor to model the effect of solar PV before and after.
Part L: new & renovated buildings
New non-domestic buildings must achieve the equivalent of a 60% improvement on the 2008 regulations, and renewables must in general provide 20% of primary energy use. Major renovations – more than 25% of the envelope – must reach cost-optimal levels (SEAI). On-site renewables such as solar PV can contribute to that share.
EPBD recast
Directive (EU) 2024/1275 requires solar-ready new non-residential buildings over 250 m² from 31 December 2026, with obligations for existing non-residential buildings phasing in from 31 December 2027 (McCann FitzGerald); for existing buildings over 500 m² this is triggered by major renovation, roof works or certain permits, where feasible (INREV). The worst-performing non-residential buildings must be renovated: 16% by 2030 and 26% by 2033. Check how Ireland has transposed these rules.
CSRD & ESG reporting
The EU’s Omnibus I Directive, published in the Official Journal on 26 February 2026 and in force from 18 March 2026, narrowed CSRD sustainability reporting to EU companies or groups with more than 1,000 employees and net turnover above €450 million. Member states must transpose the CSRD changes by 19 March 2027 (Latham & Watkins).
So most Irish office occupiers won’t report under CSRD directly. But large clients, lenders and investors still ask suppliers and landlords for emissions data – though Omnibus I limits what in-scope companies can demand from value-chain partners with fewer than 1,000 employees. On-site solar gives you a measurable, metered reduction in purchased electricity to report.
This is general information, not reporting or legal advice.
Planning permission for offices
Offices fall under the business premises class, Class 56(e), introduced by S.I. No. 493 of 2022. Rooftop solar is exempt subject to conditions: no area limit outside a Solar Safeguarding Zone (300 m² cap inside one, with notice to the council within 4 weeks); on pitched roofs no more than 15 cm off the roof and 50 cm from edges; on flat roofs up to 1.2 m high and 2 m from the edge; electricity used primarily within the premises; no hazardous glint or glare. Wall-mounted panels aren’t covered. Free-standing arrays are limited to 75 m² and 2.5 m.
Exemptions can be lost on protected structures and in ACAs. In 2026 Cork County Council ruled a 24 m² rooftop array on a Macroom town-centre premises in an ACA was not exempt (ref. D/243/26). For period offices, ask for a Section 5 declaration first. (Fieldfisher summary)
Grid connection
NC6 – micro
Below about 6 kW single-phase or 11 kW three-phase; the installer notifies ESB Networks (CRU).
NC7 – mini
Three-phase 11–50 kVA: application, €1,041.81 fee incl. VAT, technical study and an offer in about 8–10 weeks. Don’t install before the agreement is signed (ESB Networks).
Larger buildings
Up to 200 kVA is small-scale generation; above that, ESB Networks’ ECP process (ESB Networks). Export can’t exceed maximum import capacity.
Batteries
Offices with large weekend surplus, or high peak-demand charges, may benefit from a battery; others use nearly all their output. SEAI’s business grant doesn’t fund batteries, so ask for payback figures with and without. See our battery advice.
EV charging
Staff and fleet EV charging is a natural daytime load for solar. Check your import capacity first, and consider load management so chargers and building loads don’t trigger a costly supply upgrade.
How it works
Solar123 is an independent advice and quote-matching service. We don’t install; with your consent, we pass your enquiry to SEAI-registered installers who survey and quote.
Size, roof type, owner or tenant, single- or multi-let, and your annual units if you have them.
Grant, allowances, landlord–tenant set-up, BER and planning.
They model output against your half-hourly data and quote in writing.
Sign, apply to SEAI, receive your letter of offer and ESB Networks agreement, then install. See how it works.
Choosing an installer: checklist
- SEAI-registered for non-domestic solar PV.
- Sizes from half-hourly data and shows self-consumption vs export.
- Structural and roof-membrane survey; works around plant and fire routes.
- Experience with landlord consents and multi-let buildings.
- Handles ESB Networks applications.
- Checks planning: SSZ, ACA, protected structure, glint and glare.
- Provides generation data you can use for ESG reporting.
- Safe Electric registered; certificate at handover.
- Written warranties and a monitoring plan.
- Like-for-like quotes – see our quote comparison guide.
Office solar FAQs
Can an office get the SEAI solar grant?
Yes. Offices and commercial buildings can apply for the SEAI Non-Domestic Microgen Grant: the lower of SEAI’s table and 45% of cost, up to €325,200, for new applications until 6 July 2027.
We lease our office. Can we install solar?
With the landlord’s written consent and an agreement covering ownership, maintenance, insurance and lease end. Compare the payback period with your remaining lease term.
Will solar improve our BER?
Ask a non-domestic BER assessor to model your building with and without the proposed system – the effect varies from building to building.
Do we have to report under CSRD?
Only if your group exceeds 1,000 employees and €450 million turnover after the 2026 Omnibus changes. Many smaller firms still share emissions data with clients and lenders voluntarily.
What happens to power at weekends?
Surplus is exported and paid under the Clean Export Guarantee at your supplier’s rate, or stored in a battery, or used for EV charging.
Do we need planning permission?
Usually not for rooftop panels on offices that meet the Class 56(e) conditions. Protected structures, ACAs and Solar Safeguarding Zones need more care.
How much will it save?
We don’t publish generic savings. It depends on cost, grant, tariff and how much output you use. Ask installers to model your own data.
See our FAQ and industries we service.
Get your office solar quote today
Tell us about your building and we’ll connect you with SEAI-registered installers who’ll survey and quote. Or call 089 450 4544
Sending an enquiry is not an official grant application.