Ireland should be doing more to encourage the full potential of solar power in order to adapt the country to a future where extreme weather events can leave hundreds of thousands without electricity, potentially for days.

It’s hard not to keep Ireland’s electricity grid in mind this week seeing hundreds of thousands of homes without power for days on end, among the many other worries that people have had to deal with.

Storm Éowyn caused an unprecedented amount of damage to Ireland’s electricity network, with more than three-quarters of a million homes, farms, and businesses left without power at the peak of the damage.

Even days later the ESB estimated that 180,000 properties were still without electricity as of Tuesday, January 28th. Most of those will see their power restored over the course of the week, but for many, it could be early February before they get their power back.

All of this came just a few weeks after thousands of homes in the midlands were left without power, some for extended periods of time, due to heavy snowfall. 

Welcome to 2025.

Solar panels and home battery storage systems could provide homes and businesses with a safety net against power interruptions, but this is currently very uncommon.

Going without electricity for a week or more is more than just an inconvenience, it is borderline catastrophic and even dangerous.

No electricity means no heat for your boiler, or anything other than a fire. It can also mean no water for rural households on a well. That’s not even taking into account all the homes that lost water.

Even at a less terrible level, a loss of power can make it extremely difficult for people who work from home. They will have to find somewhere else where they can plug in and charge, and avail of the internet.

A simple fact is that we’re going to have to get used to, and adapt to, this kind of extreme weather. Storm Éowyn may have been the strongest ever recorded in the country, but Ireland’s Climate Change Assessment published by the EPA predicts that extreme weather events will become more frequent.

Much has been made of needing more resilient infrastructure to cope with climate change, but the ways in which that can be achieved could be hugely expensive to implement on a large scale.

Resilience starts at home. An ever-growing number of Irish homes are installing solar panels which can generate the bulk of the electricity they need for the essentials of life; washing, cooking, heating etc.

However, the bulk of homes with solar panels or a domestic battery system installed currently do not benefit from them in the event of a power outage.

This is due to regulations requiring that in the event of a power failure, the inverter isolates the solar panels from the rest of the house, preventing any power from flowing. Typically the inverter will also stop allowing any power to flow through it.

The inverter is the central hub of any solar PV system. It converts (inverts) the DC power generated by solar panels into AC power which can be used in your home. If you have a battery installed as well, it serves the same purpose for the DC power stored there.

Without the inverter, the power simply does not flow for the vast majority of homes connected to the grid.

There is a very good safety reason for this. As ESB technicians are out conducting repairs to the network in the aftermath of a storm or other damage, the last thing they want is to be surprised by a surge in electricity coming from your house.

There are ways around this. Some modern hybrid inverters will also have an output for ‘Essential Loads’ which can be of value if you have a battery system. This output allows an inverter to continue powering a few select loads by drawing power from a battery. 

It might not be enough for the central heating, but it can at least allow homeowners to keep a few lights and the fridge and freezer on for a time.   

It is also possible to have a solar PV system installed which is configured to provide backup power in the event of a grid interruption, or simply does not connect to the grid at all.

This backup mode involves installing a switch to manually isolate your home from the grid in the event of an outage, which would be an additional expense. 

These days it is becoming easier, with some suppliers such as Huawei and Sigenergy providing dedicated backup boxes which allow the switch to happen automatically.

This backup option, with solar panels able to feed power to battery storage and power the home in the event of a power outage, could provide security and peace of mind for homeowners who are expecting to be hit by storms multiple times a year.

It is also possible to install a solar PV system which is not connected to the grid at all for complete energy independence. This, however, would require a battery and makes it impossible to export excess electricity.  

To be clear these options are legally permitted as they meet the legal requirements and standards for such electrical installations.

Awareness is a huge issue surrounding backup solar power. Thankfully solar power has broken through that awareness barrier and people in Ireland are now well informed about the benefits and relatively low costs of getting solar panels installed.

But many making this leap might not be aware that they won’t automatically be able to run their home off solar panels and a battery in the event of a power failure. Those who are aware of this are likely not aware of the options for backup power.

The Solar Electricity Grant from the SEAI is currently a one-size-fits-all payment of up to €1,800 which is aimed at the basic solar PV system of panels, an inverter, and the connection.

Grant funding for solar batteries was eliminated in 2022, and there have never been any grants aimed at other elements of a solar PV system.

Whether through grant funding, other support, or simply making people more aware of their options, there is strong potential for domestic solar power to do more to safeguard homeowners from extreme weather and prolonged power cuts.

Increasing grant spending to restore funding for battery energy storage systems would help homeowners increase the amount of electricity they can use from solar panels.

Last year some 28,424 homes in Ireland installed solar panels with the aid of SEAI grants, with a maximum grant of €2,400 for those who had applied in 2023, and €2,100 for households which sought the grant in 2024.

Overall the SEAI invested €616 million in energy upgrade projects for homes, communities, businesses, and public sector organisations, along with electric vehicles and research funding, in 2024 alone. More than two-thirds of that, over €420 million, was spent on home energy upgrades.

If just half of those homes which received the Solar PV Grant in 2024 also got just a €500 grant for a solar battery, which could cover roughly 20-25% of the cost, it would have cost just over €7.1 million. 

That’s just over 1% of what the SEAI spent on energy upgrades last year. Installing switches for backup power mode is even less expensive than getting a battery, and can work with just solar panels on their own.

Additional spending on encouraging homeowners to invest in battery storage and backup power systems alongside solar panels will not only help Ireland to meet its renewable energy goals, but adapt homes to the impacts of the climate change we hope to mitigate.