Solar Ireland told the Irish government that the Private Wires Bill’s proposed definition of private wires could result in rooftop solar installations being subject to the full electricity licensing requirement, which would place significant additional demands on the energy regulator and delay installations.
Solar Ireland CEO Ronan Power addressed the Joint Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy in the Irish Parliament this week. He warned that the rapid deployment of rooftop solar panels in Ireland could be inadvertently delayed under the current wording of the Private Wires Bill. The Private Wires Bill was passed by the government in December 2025 to modernize the country’s electricity system.
It will amend the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 to allow the laying of private electricity wires in limited circumstances. The bill sets out four scenarios, in consultation with Ireland’s utility regulator and network operators. Private wires can be used to facilitate hybrid network connections, or to link a single electricity user to a separate generating asset. This connection may also include storage technologies.
While Solar Ireland welcomed the policy’s potential 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.
Ireland will have 1 GW of solar installed by 2025 and the development pipeline is approximately 1.7 GW. Rooftop generation accounts for around half of Ireland’s installed capacity of 2.3 GW.
The problem lies with the proposed definition of private cables, which could include rooftop installations within the full permit requirement, Power said.
“Under the definition of private cables as currently drafted, rooftop projects would impose significant additional requirements on the regulator and risk delays to thousands of households wanting to install solar panels each year,” said the CEO of Solar Ireland, adding that any new regulatory framework would need to rely on existing technical and safety standards already in use in the solar sector.
Power also said that while private cables can alleviate constraints on the electricity grid, the potential of distributed solar generation to contribute to Ireland’s energy security should not be overlooked. He said private cables should be a complementary solution rather than a replacement for the national electricity grid.
“Rooftop solar now represents a central part of Ireland’s achievement of its 2030 renewable energy targets,” Power said, highlighting the rooftop rollout.
The government-run Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has processed its 100,000th paid application for the Domestic Solar PV Scheme at the end of 2025. The use of rooftop solar by homeowners is very high, and supporting subsidies for domestic installations will be maintained until 2026.
“If implemented in a balanced and technically sound manner, this reform could unlock additional renewable capacity, support industrial decarbonization and relieve pressure on the national electricity grid,” Power said.
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