Solar for schools and communities

A school, community hall or sports club needs more than a roof layout and a headline saving. The proposal should explain who can approve the work, when the building uses electricity and how installation will fit around the people using it.

School funding and SEAI support are different routes

For a school

The Department’s Schools Photovoltaic Programme has its own invitation, eligibility, procurement and funding process. Its published Phase 2 timetable refers to 2025. Do not treat that page as confirmation that a new application is open today.

Ask the school authority to check its invitation, current status and any later instructions from the Department. The published process requires registration and eligibility confirmation before quotations, followed by the Department’s funding and procurement steps. Confirm the applicable process before commissioning work.

For other eligible projects

SEAI’s separate Non Domestic Microgen Grant lists schools, community centres, public bodies and non profit organisations among potential applicants. Eligibility still needs to be checked for the project. It requires an agreed contract with a registered company, an application and a letter of offer before works start, plus the applicable network connection process.

Use the route confirmed for your project. Do not assume both schemes can fund the same installation or that every cost in a quotation is eligible. Ask the funding body to confirm those points in writing.

Look at a normal week and the quiet periods

Bring a year of bills and any interval usage data available. Separate term time from holidays, daytime use from evening bookings, and regular loads from occasional events. The bill payer, building owner and project applicant may not be the same organisation, so identify each at the outset.

If most activity is in the evening, daytime solar output will not automatically match it. Ask for expected generation, electricity used in the building and exports to be shown separately. Any financial estimate should state the tariffs, costs and demand assumptions. A large roof is not a reason to skip that comparison.

Plan around the people using the building

Agree how the roof, electrical supply, equipment locations and maintenance access will be assessed. Identify known roof problems and any other works already planned. Ask who checks the planning position, ownership permissions and network requirements.

The work plan should address occupied areas, children or visitors, deliveries, restricted access and any electrical shutdown. Identify who can authorise changes and how staff will be told about disruption. A holiday installation window may be useful, but it is not a substitute for the necessary approvals or safe work arrangements.

Give the board a proposal it can act on

• Decision: named approvers, building permissions and the procurement route.
• Budget: full cost, confirmed and unconfirmed funding, exclusions and payment stages.
• Energy: generation and demand assumptions, export arrangements and how performance will be reviewed.
• Delivery: agreed scope, responsibilities, access arrangements and dependencies on approvals.
• Ownership: certificates, product and warranty records, monitoring access and the contact for support.

If a display or teaching resource is wanted, ask what is included and who will keep it working. Generation shown on a screen is not the same as a measured reduction in bills. Arrange a handover for the person who will manage the system, and keep the records somewhere the next committee can find them.

Our commercial solar page explains the consultancy approach. Bring the same questions to any installer, including Infinite Energy.