The Department for the Environment has confirmed grants for residential solar panels will be cut in January.
Administered by the Sustainable Authority of Ireland, the Domestic Solar PV grant will fall by €300, reducing the maximum allowance to €2,100.
In a statement to RTÉ News, the Department of the Environment said it was always intended to cut the grant in installments from 2024 onwards.
"As per the parameters set out in the Micro-Generation Support Scheme, the maximum grant levels were always designed to remain at €2,400 for 2022 and 2023, and then to reduce by up to €300 for each subsequent year, until it is anticipated that no grant support will be required from 2029 onwards. "
It said the scheme has proven very successful with 10,000 households supported last year and 22,000 expected to get grants by the end of 2023.
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The cut has been described as disappointing, with PINergy Solar Electric Chief Executive Ronan Power saying it will serve to slow down the strides in relation to solar energy in recent years.
Speaking on RTÉ's News At One, Mr Power, who is also a board member of Irish Solar Energy Association, said that the industry had seen an increase in demand this year.
"We are at the beginning of this journey and its contribution to our own climate action targets," he said.
He added that there were 1.3 million homes capable of taking Solar PV, and if Ireland was successful in that roll-out, it would go a long way to meet renewable energy targets by 2030.
"Being behind and supporting it from a Governmental level is key in order to reach targets of the government but to give domestic users the potential to be more sustainable," he said.
"We have seen the price of Solar PV reduce and the Government incentives meant we saw a large uptake, that kind of momentum we should be supporting to keep it moving".
