The Farmers Journal prints SEAI's answers on the business solar grant - the battery stays outside it, a decision can land in 15 minutes, and a domestic meter can still qualify
On 11 November 2026 the Irish Farmers Journal said SEAI answered 26 questions on the Non-Domestic Microgeneration Grant. The grant is an effective 45% from 6 October 2026 to 6 July 2027, and the payment is the lower of a rate card and 45% of the eligible invoice. SEAI said there are no agricultural specific requirements, a separate commercial meter is not required, and site consumption is not accounted for in the application. The battery is outside the grant. A decision to add battery support sits with the Department of Communications, Energy and the Environment. SEAI's grant page prints no battery line and no 15-minute figure.
A farm or other business weighing solar and a battery can read a fresh set of answers on the Irish business grant. The answers name the panels. They leave the battery outside the grant.
The Irish Farmers Journal, dated 11 November 2026, says SEAI answered 26 questions on the Non-Domestic Microgeneration Grant. The window in that piece matches the grant page: an effective 45% from 6 October 2026 to 6 July 2027, up from approximately 23%. The Journal says the sum paid is the lower of a rate card and 45% of eligible invoiced costs, so a business can receive less than 45% of the invoice. The enhanced rate applies to new applications from 6 October 2026. Existing applications stay on the earlier offer.
SEAI's reply on farm rules, as the Journal prints it, is: "There are no agricultural specific requirements." The Journal says all farm types can apply. A separate commercial meter is not required. The connection serves an eligible business premises even where the MPRN, the meter number, is classed as domestic. The Journal says a single meter for the yard and the house does not by itself close the application.
SEAI's line on bills, as the Journal prints it, is: "The consumption of the site is not accounted for in the NDMG application." The Journal says the farmer and the contractor size the system, typically from roof space, on-site demand, maximum import capacity and maximum export capacity. The installation serves a site that uses electricity. A system built only to export sits outside the scheme. The application itself does not score a year of bills.
Agricultural sheds are eligible locations. The roof is structurally suitable, and the job follows the scheme's code of practice. The Journal says this grant has no specific restriction for slurry agitation points. In the Journal's account of TAMS, those points can restrict a shed. The business still follows Department of Agriculture rules and any other rule that applies. The Journal says that responsibility stays with the business.
The Journal says a TAMS ground-mounted array sits within 500 metres of the farmyard. SEAI, in the same piece, has no matching distance limit. The array is connected in parallel with the meter on the application. Planning and a grid connection sit outside that answer.
The Journal describes TAMS solar funding as previously available at rates of up to 60%, with tighter selection now restricting access. It describes TAMS as having previously supported panels and a battery. It does not print a current TAMS battery rate. This note does not treat "previously" as this week's price.
A farmer who already took TAMS solar can apply for a further system. The same installation does not take both grants. The Journal prints SEAI's reply as allowing a further system and ruling out a second grant on the same installation. The Journal says the further array is best kept electrically separate from the existing one.
The farmer files the application. The installer does not file it. The farmer can change supplier after approval. The Journal says some installers have told applicants they stay with the original supplier. SEAI's answer, as the Journal prints it, is that the supplier can be changed.
The Journal says SEAI issues decisions within 15 minutes after automated checks. Work starts after the offer. The ESB Networks connection takes at least four weeks. The offer lasts eight months from approval, covering the installation and the paperwork. The enhanced-rate window is nine months, from 6 October 2026 to 6 July 2027. Those are different clocks. The 15 minutes is the Journal's account. SEAI's grant page does not print 15 minutes.
The Journal says payment typically takes six weeks once the paperwork is complete. The farmer pays the installer in full, or has a payment or financing arrangement, before the grant is claimed. A desk check or a site visit can delay payment. The Journal says post-payment inspections typically fall within one to two months.
The Journal's tenth point: the grant does not provide aid for batteries. SEAI confirmed, in that piece, that a decision to add battery support, or to extend the 45% rate past the nine months, sits with the Department of Communications, Energy and the Environment.
SEAI's non-domestic microgen grant page prints the same window and an effective 45% for new applications. It prints a maximum of €325,200 for systems up to 1,000 kWp, and a rate card beside that cap. The payment line on the page is the lower of the value on the application summary or 45% of the invoiced cost. Offers are valid for eight months from the letter of offer. The connection step prints at least 4 weeks, and also 20 working days. Payment on that page is 4 to 6 weeks after the installer uploads every document, longer where the job is inspected. The page's visible text prints no battery amount and no 15-minute figure. This note did not open the terms PDF linked from that page. The Journal says a later edition will run examples comparing the TAMS solar grant with the SEAI grant. Those examples are not in the 11 November piece.
Analogy: the grant pays toward the panels, the tap on the roof. The battery is a tank for later in the day. This grant does not pay for the tank. Fifteen minutes is a decision on the paper. The grid connection is still a matter of weeks.
Good: A dated Journal piece with SEAI's words on farm rules and on bills, a 15-minute decision kept on the Journal, a battery kept outside the grant, and the live grant page's 45% rule, €325,200 cap, eight-month offer and 4-to-6-week payment kept on that page.
Bad: No battery kilowatt-hours, no battery euro, no current TAMS battery rate, no euro comparison of the two grants. The 15 minutes is not on the grant page. The terms PDF was not opened. "Previously" is the Journal's word for older TAMS support, not a rate printed for this week.
Ugly: Reading 45% as 45% of every invoice. Putting a battery inside this grant. Treating 15 minutes as a line on the SEAI grant page. Treating the Journal's "previously" as this week's TAMS battery price. Using examples the 11 November piece says are still to come. Copying a contact line off either page.
Soft next step: write the battery as outside this grant, keep 15 minutes on the Journal, and leave the battery's kilowatt-hours blank.
Source: Irish Farmers Journal, 11 Nov 2026, SEAI and TAMS on the business solar grant. Primary for the 11 November date, SEAI's answers to 26 questions, "There are no agricultural specific requirements.", all farm types, no separate commercial meter, a domestic MPRN, the meter number, where the connection serves an eligible business, "The consumption of the site is not accounted for in the NDMG application.", sizing from roof space, demand, maximum import capacity and maximum export capacity, sheds, no agitation-point restriction on this grant, 500 metres in the Journal's account of TAMS, no matching distance limit on the SEAI grant, a further system with no second grant on the same installation, the farmer filing the application, a supplier change after approval, decisions within 15 minutes, at least four weeks for the ESB Networks connection, eight months to finish, payment typically in six weeks, and no battery grant, with any battery decision or extension of the 45% rate sitting with the Department of Communications, Energy and the Environment. The Journal describes TAMS solar funding as previously available at rates of up to 60% and as having previously supported panels and a battery. It does not print a current TAMS battery rate. SEAI, non-domestic microgen grant page. Primary for the effective 45% window from 6 October 2026 to 6 July 2027, new applications only, the lower of the application-summary value or 45% of the invoiced cost, a maximum of €325,200 up to 1,000 kWp, offers valid for eight months, at least 4 weeks and 20 working days for the network application, and payment in 4 to 6 weeks after the documents are uploaded. The visible page prints no battery amount and no 15-minute figure. This note did not open the terms PDF.