Ireland has a national target of 8GW of installed solar capacity by 2030 under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme.

Ireland’s solar sector has almost quadrupled its total energy capacity to 2.7GW over the past three years, according to Solar Ireland’s annual ‘Scale of Solar’ report on the industry.

Ireland’s total connected solar capacity is now predicted to exceed 3.3GW by the end of this year, having grown by 297pc since 2023 and by 53pc, or nearly 1GW, in the 12 months to May 2026.

In the past year, solar generated more than 1.17TWh of electricity across Ireland, according to the report, with the equivalent of 460,000 homes powered by the country’s total connected solar capacity.

Solar farms providing utility-scale capacity surpassed the 1.5GW mark across the year. Small-scale capacity from rooftop systems installed at farms, schools, retail premises, community buildings and smaller industrial facilities reached 58MW, while micro-generation capacity from households, farms, schools and small businesses reached 805MW.

Ireland has a national target of 8GW of installed solar capacity by 2030 under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme. To achieve this, the report estimated, an additional 0.8-1.3GW of capacity per year until 2030 will be required, with between 5,000 and 7,000 new jobs potentially being created and contributions of more than €2.3bn to Ireland’s economy possibly resulting from solar developments.

Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy Darragh O’Brien, TD said: “In just 12 months, Ireland added 1GW of solar capacity, helping to strengthen Ireland’s energy resilience, reduce emissions and increase the share of domestically generated renewable electricity on our system.

“As electricity demand continues to grow, driven by electrification across homes, transport and industry, investment in renewable energy infrastructure will be essential.

“Solar is already making an increasingly important contribution to Ireland’s electricity system and will continue to play a key role in supporting energy resilience, economic competitiveness and a sustainable energy future.”

The report noted that more than 190,000 Irish homes and businesses have implemented rooftop solar electricity generation capabilities, with Clare being the county with the highest such uptake per capita.

Rooftop solar adoption can account for an estimated removal of 155,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions over the past 12 months, according to the report.

For utility-scale or solar farm generation, Meath (441GWh), Wexford (174GWh) and Cork (110GWh) were the three most productive counties over the past year.

CEO of Solar Ireland Ronan Power said: “Ireland’s solar story is no longer defined solely by ambition. It is increasingly defined by delivery.

“Solar is now making a meaningful contribution to homes, farms, schools, businesses and communities nationwide. Maintaining this momentum will require continued collaboration across industry, Government, regulators and system operators.

“Grid infrastructure, planning processes, workforce capacity, market design and public participation will all play a critical role in determining how quickly Ireland can continue scaling solar generation.”

SiliconRepublic.com recently spoke to Calvin Lan, the CEO of Huawei Ireland, about Ireland’s solar and renewable energy targets.

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