Private wires legislation could slow Ireland’s residential rooftop PV progress

<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Solar Ireland told the Irish government that the Private Wires Bill’s proposed definition of private wires could bring rooftop solar installations within a full electricity licensing requirement, which would place significant additional demand on the energy regulator and slow down installations.</span></p><p>Solar Ireland CEO Ronan Power addressed the Joint Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy in the Irish parliament this week. He warned that Ireland’s fast-moving residential rooftop solar deployment could be unintentionally slowed under the current wording of the Private Wires Bill. The Private Wires Bill was approved by the government in December 2025 to modernize the country’s electricity system.</p>
<p>It will amend the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 to allow private electricity wires to be built under limited circumstances. The bill sets out four scenarios in consultation with Ireland’s utilities regulator and grid operators. Private wires may be used to facilitate hybrid grid connections, or to link a single user of electricity to a separate singular generation asset. This connection can also include storage technologies.</p>
<p>While Solar Ireland welcomed the potential for the policy to unlock new renewable energy projects, Power warned the Joint Committee that the wording of the bill could skew its implementation – with potentially unfortunate results for Irish residential solar.</p>
<p>Ireland installed <a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/02/26/ireland-adds-1-gw-of-solar-in-2025/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">1 GW of solar</a> in 2025, and its development pipeline is around 1.7 GW. Rooftop generation accounts for around half of Ireland's installed capacity of 2.3 GW.</p>
<p>The problem lies with the proposed definition of private wires which could bring rooftop installations within a full licensing requirement, according to Power.</p>
<p>“Under the definition of private wires as currently drafted, rooftop projects would place significant additional demand on the regulator and risks delaying thousands of households seeking to install solar each year,” the Solar Ireland CEO said, adding that a new regulatory framework should rely on existing technical and safety standards already in use across the solar sector.</p>
<p>Power also said that while private wires can ease constraints on the electricity grid, the potential for distributed solar generation to contribute to Ireland’s energy security should not be overlooked. He said private wires should be a complementary solution rather than a replacement for the national grid.</p>
<p>“Rooftop solar now represents a central component of Ireland’s delivery toward its 2030 renewable energy targets,” Power said, highlighting the rooftop rollout.</p>
<p>The government-run Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) processed its 100,000th paid application for the Domestic Solar PV Scheme at the end of 2025. Uptake of rooftop solar by homeowners is very high, and supportive grants for domestic installations are being retained into 2026.</p>
<p>“If implemented in a balanced and technically grounded way, this reform can unlock additional renewable capacity, support industrial decarbonization and relieve pressure on the national grid,” said Power.</p>