Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Generation (SRESS)

Small-Scale Generation is defined as renewable electricity generation technologies with an electricity output greater than 50kW, but smaller than typical utility-scale generators.

The Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS) offers farmers, community groups, schools, and businesses an opportunity to lower electricity costs and generate income through solar and wind projects.

SRESS offers two different options for renewable electricity projects:

• Option 1 - The SRESS self-consumer grant, under the Non-Domestic Microgen Grant (NDMG) scheme, is for those who want to install solar panels to power their farm, business, or community buildings.
• Option 2 - The SRESS export tariff is for projects which export all electricity produced to the grid to earn income.

It is important to note that both the export tariff and the self-consumer grant are not available to the same project. They relate to different types of projects: export projects and separate renewable self-consumer installations.

Applicants must choose only one of the two above options. This means that export projects (option 2 above) cannot use any of their generated electricity for their own use. In addition, export projects are not eligible for the Clean Export Guarantee – details of which are below.

This is available to renewables self-consumers – electricity customers who produce renewable electricity for their own use. They may then sell or store any excess electricity that they produce, if electricity generation is not their primary business.

Renewable Self-Consumers above 50kW and up to 1MW are eligible to apply to SEAI for the SRESS self-consumer grant under the Non-Domestic Microgen (NDMG) scheme of up to €162,600. This grant is towards the cost of installation of solar PV for businesses, farm, school, community centres, or other non-profit organisations.

Separately, with the introduction of the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) in 2021, any excess renewable electricity not consumed on the premises of renewable self-consumers can be sold to the grid for an export payment from their electricity supplier, which further supports the investment. See details below.

Further information on the grant is available on the SEAI website.

Any queries relating to the SRESS self-consumer grant can be directed to solarpv@seai.ie

Further details on the tariff, grant, and CEG are available below.

The SRESS export tariff has been designed with small-scale (above 50kW and up to 6MW in capacity size) community, farm and SME projects in mind, offering such projects a simpler, non-competitive, route to market compared to the utility-scale RESS.

SRESS is also open to any individual, organisation, or business developing an export only project with a capacity greater than 50 kW and up to 1 MW. These participants are eligible for the same tariff rate as SMEs up to 1 MW.

The SRESS export tariff provides a 15-year tariff to successful export applicants, without an auction. The support rate is provided for the support lifetime, with successful applicants receiving a premium on the market revenues they receive for their renewable electricity.

The Terms and Conditions of the SRESS export tariff were published in December 2024 and are available below. The scheme opened for applications on 27 January 2025.

To apply for the scheme, applicants must complete the application form, which is included in the Application Information Pack below. Completed application forms must be returned to sress@dcee.gov.ie

Any queries relating to the SRESS export tariff application process can also be directed to sress@dcee.gov.ie

A different tariff is provided depending on whether the project is a Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) or a Renewable Energy Community (REC). Farmers are eligible to apply on the same basis as SMEs.

A Renewable Energy Community (REC) is a grassroots initiative where local people, organisations, authorities and others come together to generate and manage renewable energy.

A higher rate is provided for RECs due to the additional barriers they face when establishing projects such as planning, grid connection and financing. In addition, it is a reflection of public policy preference for community involvement in renewable energy projects.

The SRESS Tariff Rates are set out in the table below:

SRESS Renewable Energy Communities Tariff Rates

SRESS SMEs Tariff Rates

In February 2026 the Department commenced a review of the tariffs available under the Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS).

This review of the tariffs is being undertaken to ensure the scheme continues to provide appropriate support and is not an indication that the tariffs will be increased. Depending on the findings of the review, specific tariffs may be retained or modified or removed, subject to the approval by the Minister.

In the meantime, the existing SRESS rates, (both Renewable Energy Communities rate and SME rate) published on the Department’s website will continue to be available and will apply until the review process is over.

Some other Key Design Features of the SRESS are listed below.

Project Size - The minimum project size for SRESS export projects is greater than 50 kW

Capacity Limits – Acceptance into SRESS is subject to the limits set out for each tariff category in the SRESS Terms and Conditions. As of March 2026, there is over 50% remaining capacity available in all tariff categories.

Eligible Technologies – The scheme is open to solar and wind applications, as it is expected that the overwhelming majority of applicants will comprise of these two technologies. As the scheme progresses, the possibility of expanding the range of tariffs to include other technologies may be considered.

Consumer Protection – The above-mentioned premium tariff for export led projects is a two-way tariff. This helps to protect electricity customers from high electricity prices by ensuring that projects are not over-compensated and contribute excess revenue back to the Public Service Obligation (PSO) at times of high electricity prices.

If you are considering applying for the SRESS self-consumer grant (NDMG) as a renewable self-consumer, please check our First Steps guide for renewable self-consumers here.

If you are considering applying for an SRESS export tariff as a project exporting all the electricity that you generate to the grid, please check our First Steps guide for SRESS export tariff here.

To further support communities, SEAI provides a range of supports to develop renewable energy projects. These include nine free comprehensive guides covering various issues, including stakeholder engagement, business planning and the Irish electricity market, available on the SEAI website.

In addition, SEAI provides community groups with free access to specialist technical advisors, to guide them through all stages of project development—from forming a community group to site identification, feasibility studies, project design, and grid and planning applications.

When developing a renewable energy project, there are a range of licences and permits that may be required. As the Single Point of Contact, SEAI offer free guidance on licences and permits for renewable energy projects. This includes:

• A licence and permit finder to help identify the permits and licences that may be needed for a project
• A range of guides on the relevant licences and permits that may be required, specific to a range of renewable energy technologies. The guides also provide advice on more general project implementation issues.

Further details are available on the SEAI Single Point of Contact website.

SRESS offers a practical alternative for small-scale projects over the competitive auction based RESS. In addition to the security of fixed tariffs, it offers a range of non-financial benefits to applicants including:

• A less complex application process
• Apply any time, rather than once a year with RESS
• Less strict milestones, compared to RESS
• Free project planning expert advice to Community Applicants.

Further details on benefits

In SRESS, SME applicants are required to submit proof of Grid Connection Agreement at application stage. In RESS, projects must either hold a valid connection offer or have accepted the connection offer and have entered into a grid connection agreement.

On the other hand, Renewable Energy Communities need only provide proof of a Grid Connection Assessment when applying for SRESS.

Applicants can apply to SRESS whenever they are ready, and will be accepted into SRESS, with a prior known guaranteed tariff, provided that they fulfil all the term and condition criteria.

This compares with the more detailed nature, including competitive auction in RESS, that sees applicants competing in an auction once a year only.

SRESS compared to RESS

SRESS projects receive significantly higher tariffs than commercial developers achieve in the alternative, utility scale RESS auctions.

The SRESS solar tariffs provide community projects with a significant premium compared to the weighted average strike prices for community-led projects in RESS 1 and RESS 2 and with recent general RESS solar strike prices.

RESS 2, in 2022, was the last RESS auction with a dedicated community only section and saw a community price of €116.41/MWh.

The RESS 3, RESS 4 and RESS 5 average prices (in 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively) have been around €100/MWh.

SRESS Premium Examples:

• The SRESS Community Small-Scale Solar PV (greater than 1 and up to 6MW) category tariff of €140/MWh is 40% above the RESS 3, RESS 4 and RESS 5 average prices of €100/MWh
• The SRESS SME Small-Scale Solar PV (greater than 1 and up to 6 MW) category tariff of €120/MWh is 20% above the RESS 3, RESS 4 and RESS 5 average prices of €100/MWh

These SRESS guaranteed premiums are offered to candidates for the full 15-year term, providing them with a significant guaranteed premium compared to what was available in RESS auctions

More details on RESS can be found on the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment's website and the prices achieved by successful RESS applicants can be found on EirGrid's website.

The Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) tariff provides the right for micro-and small-scale generators in Ireland to receive payment from their electricity supplier for all surplus renewable electricity that they export to the grid. This remuneration is intended to reflect the wholesale market value of the electricity. All electricity suppliers have a CEG tariff in place.

CRU published the CEG - Enduring Arrangements to Remunerate Customers for Microgeneration Exports on 18 June 2024. This decision includes improvements in the level of service for customers with microgeneration, such as:

• more regular payments to customers for the electricity they export to the grid
• clearer information from suppliers on the details of the payments that customers receive for the electricity they export to the grid
• suppliers will have clearer information on their websites about their export tariffs.

Further details are available on the CRU website.

50kW rooftop or ground mounted installations require approximately 125 to 200 solar panels. That would require 250-300m2 of roof space. For context, a double tennis court is around 260 m2.

Alternatively, a 50kW ground-mounted system would require around a third of an acre of land (0.1ha).

Approximately 3.75-5 acres (1.5-2ha) is required to support 1MW of solar capacity.

Article 22(3) of the European Union's Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001 “RED II” requires Member States to carry out an assessment of the existing barriers and potential of development of renewable energy communities in their territories.

The below report is in response to this requirement. It seeks to identify the challenges and barriers faced by RECs in Ireland, evaluate the effectiveness of current policy supports, and set out pathways for potential development opportunities.

The Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) Test is a tool that has been designed to assist policymakers consider the SME perspective when making any new policies, legislation (primary or secondary), or regulatory compliance requirements. During the development of the SRESS scheme and the application process consideration was given to the provisions of the SME Test.

Further information and guidance is available on the following links:

• Community Enabling Framework - SEAI
• Single Point of Contact – Guidance on Licences and Permits and other issues – SEAI
• Use of agricultural land for renewable energy generation - Teagasc
• The potential of solar PV on Irish farms - Teagasc
• Wind energy - Teagasc
• Harvesting renewable energy with SRESS- Teagasc