Ireland doubled a workplace loan pot to €1 billion - renewable energy is named, and the extra green discount is 0.25%
On 12 October 2026 the Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme went from €500 million to €1 billion, open until 30 June 2029. Loans run from €25,000 to €3 million for 7 to 10 years, unsecured up to €500,000. The department names renewable energy as a use. SBCI takes another 0.25% off the rate when the spend qualifies as climate or environmental work. It is a loan, not the SEAI grant.
A factory or a farm in Ireland that wants panels on the roof can now look at a bigger government-backed loan. It is still a loan. The money comes back, with interest.
On 12 October 2026 the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment said the Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme goes from €500 million to €1 billion. It stays open until 30 June 2029, or until the money is fully taken, whichever is earlier. Ministers Peter Burke and Martin Heydon announced it. The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) runs the scheme with the European Investment Bank Group.
The department's release names the uses in one list: business expansion, innovation, digitalisation, climate action, energy efficiency, renewable energy, research and development, and other growth and sustainability investments. Renewable energy is on that list. The release does not print a euro-per-watt figure, a worked solar quote, or a line that names a battery.
SBCI's product page sets the shape of the loan. From €25,000 to €3 million. Terms from 7 years up to 10 years. The size can also be limited by state-aid rules. The page calls that "aid intensity and State aid thresholds". Unsecured up to €500,000, and the features list adds "subject to certain exceptions". A later answer on the same page says loans up to €500,000 are granted on an unsecured basis. Above €500,000 the lender may ask for security. A personal guarantee on a loan over €500,000 is limited to 20% of the loan amount.
The interest rate is not one national number. SBCI says rates vary by lender, and sit below that lender's normal rate. Where the spend qualifies as climate action or environmental sustainability, another 0.25% comes off. That is a quarter of one percent. It is not 25%, and it is not the SEAI grant rate.
On the department's average loan, €219,537, that extra 0.25% is €549 in a year if it applied to the whole balance, by our arithmetic. 219,537 times 0.0025 is 548.84, which rounds to €549. As the balance falls, the cash gap gets smaller than ten years of €549. It is a trim on the interest. It is not a discount on the panels.
The SEAI grant is a different counter. SEAI's business solar page says a new application in the window from 6 October 2026 to 6 July 2027 can get an effective 45% rate, and the page caps the grant at €325,200. This loan is the money a business may still borrow. Adding the grant and the loan on the same invoice is a state-aid question. The loan pages do not publish a ruling that they can share one roof. A buyer who already holds a grant can hit the aid ceiling SBCI names. We will not invent that ceiling.
Who is open. AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB reopened for new applications on 12 October. Close Brothers and Finance Ireland are expected to open in the coming weeks. Five lenders. The rate on the offer is the bank's rate.
What the first pot already did, to the end of June 2026, from the department's table: 1,972 businesses, average loan €219,537, 36% of the lending in green investment (€171 million), 24% in agri-food (€112 million), 79% of the lending outside Dublin (€374 million). The release says the original €500 million is substantially deployed, and it rounds the history to around 2,000 businesses. The new money is the second €500 million. The scheme also keeps a target that at least 30% of the lending volume goes to environmental sustainability.
The green discount is not automatic. SBCI says a borrower qualifies by investing in green measures that match the European Investment Bank rules for the scheme, or by fitting one of the listed labels: a green enterprise with 90% or more of revenue from eligible activities, or a farmer on the named eco-labels. The measure is described on the SBCI application. The product page we read does not print the words "solar panel" or "battery". A warehouse that wants panels still goes through that test. Wanting panels does not make the firm a green enterprise.
Analogy: the SEAI grant is a discount sticker on the panels. This loan is the finance counter out the back. The sticker and the loan are different pieces of paper. A 0.25% rate cut is a small trim on the interest, not half the invoice.
Good: A published pot, a published date, a published size range, a published extra 0.25%, and renewable energy named by the department.
Bad: No site quote. No line that a battery qualifies. No single interest rate. The 0.25% sits on whatever rate the bank was already charging under the scheme.
Ugly: Reading €1 billion as money for one roof. Reading 0.25% as 45%. Adding the loan to the SEAI grant without a ruling on state aid. The two lines on loans up to €500,000 - one says unsecured with exceptions, one says unsecured - are both on the SBCI page. Read both before telling the board the loan has no security.
Soft next step: if the roof is going in while this window is open, ask the bank whether the job counts as a green measure, and ask SEAI whether the grant and the loan can share the invoice. Then a short consult at Sovryn Energy /consult if you want those two answers lined up against the quote.
Source: Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, 12 Oct 2026 - Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme expansion to €1 billion, extended to 2029. Primary for €500 million to €1 billion, 30 June 2029, the use list including energy efficiency and renewable energy, the 30% environmental-sustainability lending target, the five lenders and which three reopened on the day, around 2,000 businesses, the original €500 million substantially deployed, and the impact table to end of June 2026 (1,972 businesses, €219,537 average, 36% / €171 million green, 24% / €112 million agri-food, 79% / €374 million outside Dublin). The release says an extra interest discount exists for green investments and does not state 0.25%. SBCI, Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme product page. Primary for €25,000 to €3 million, 7 to 10 years, aid intensity and State aid thresholds, unsecured up to €500,000 with the "certain exceptions" line and the later unsecured answer, personal guarantees over €500,000 limited to 20%, rates varying by lender and reduced from standard rates, the additional 0.25% for climate action and environmental sustainability, and the green-measure, green-enterprise and farmer-label paths. The page does not print "solar panel" or "battery". 219,537 × 0.0025 = 548.84, rounded here to €549, is our arithmetic for one year on the full average balance, not a published saving and not a ten-year figure. SEAI, Non-Domestic Microgen Grant. Primary for the effective 45% rate on new applications from 6 October 2026 to 6 July 2027, and for the €325,200 cap. Not a line in the loan documents.