Co Mayo sees increase in solar panel installations

There has been an increase of 11 percent in solar panel installations in Q2 of this year.

The reduction in the solar PV grant at the start of this year has not resulted in fewer installations being carried out, new SEAI figures show.

Co Mayo saw 371 new grant assisted solar installations in the first six months of 2024, with an 11 percent increase in installations in Q2 (195) compared to Q1 (176) in the county.

The first six months of this year saw 13,498 PV systems installed across Ireland with grant support, according to statistics published by the SEAI.

Some 7,493 solar installations were completed in Q2 with grant aid from the SEAI, an increase of around 1,500 installations compared to the first quarter.

This means that Ireland is averaging around 83 SEAI grant approved installations per day, despite the SEAI grant being cut by €300 on January 1.

This is particularly encouraging given there was a surge in applications in December 2023 ahead of the grant reduction in January.

In the first half of this year, 3,014 solar PV installations were in Co Dublin, and the county recorded a significant 23.7 percent increase in installations in Q2, reaching a total of 1,667.

So far in 2024, Cork has had the second most installations with 1,446, followed by Galway with 935, and Meath with 818.

The next highest numbers of installations were in Kildare (722), Wexford (555), Wicklow (549), and Limerick (528).