Beyond 3GW: Ireland’s Solar+ opportunity

Ireland has demonstrated how quickly solar can grow. Solar Ireland is now looking beyond capacity to the combinations that can turn that progress into lasting value for homes, farms, businesses, communities, and the wider energy system.

Solar now operates at every scale, from solar farms supplying the national system to rooftops generating power close to where it is used. That progress deserves recognition. But capacity is only one measure of what solar can contribute. The next chapter is about what becomes possible when we add the plus.

Solar+ is Solar Ireland’s vision for that next chapter. It starts with solar generation, then connects it with the technologies, places, and people that can turn clean electricity into wider value.

Solar+ storage means electricity generated during the day can be stored and used when it is needed. Solar+ homes connects on-site generation with electrified heating, EV charging, and smarter household energy use.

Solar+ business gives organisations the opportunity to take greater control of their energy costs and strengthen resilience. Solar+ farms and communities can open new opportunities for participation, resilience, and regional investment. Solar+ skills puts the people and expertise needed to deliver growth safely and well at the heart of the transition.

This is not about choosing between rooftop and utility-scale solar, or between national infrastructure and local energy. Ireland needs each of them working together. Large solar projects can deliver significant volumes of clean electricity, while distributed systems allow households, farms, and businesses to participate directly. Storage, flexible demand, and smart technologies can help both deliver more.

The plus also represents collaboration. No single technology, organisation, or part of society can deliver the energy transition alone. Progress depends on industry, government, communities, and consumers working towards shared outcomes. The better those connections work, the more value solar can create for Ireland.

Solar+ will shape Solar Ireland’s work throughout 2027 and provide the theme for our annual conference on 13 May 2027. It is an invitation to look beyond panels and capacity and focus on outcomes: cleaner power used more effectively, greater energy security, stronger businesses, skilled careers, and more people able to participate in the transition.

Ireland has demonstrated how quickly solar can grow. The opportunity now is to make that growth work harder, reach further, and deliver more.

Solar is only the beginning. Now we add the +.

W: www.solarireland.ie