With the year end fast approaching, now is the time to be planning on what can be done to minimise tax bills.

There is no better investment than solar PV to help achieve this. With a solar PV installation, you can write 100% off the final cost against this year’s tax.

For a sole trader, on high tax, that can be up to a 54% write off and for a company 12.5%. 

With a solar PV investment, non-registered farmers are also entitled to a 100% VAT tax refund on a renewable investment, so the tax man is really encouraging you to invest in renewables. 

These tax incentives are on top of a dedicated 60% TAMS grant available to all farmers who invest in a solar PV system for their farm business and home. The next tranche deadline is early December so, again, now is the time to put your plans in place. 

Many farmers are not aware that they can get the 60% TAMS grant for their home energy use as well as their farm. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is very supportive and keen to help farmers adopt renewable technologies.

Two restrictions are that the home must be within 500m of the farm and that you can’t put panels on the roof of the home.

Expected paybacks will be between two and four years depending on energy use in the farm/home and amount exported to the grid.

MD of Local Power Ltd, Pat Smith said even where farmers aren’t considering a renewable investment in 2024, applying for a TAMS grant before this December’s deadline should be considered as part of their tax planning for 2025, as it gives them options should they wish to avail of the grant and also lower their tax bill towards the end of next year.

A grant applied for in this tranche won’t expire until the second quarter of 2026.

If this is an investment you are considering, talk to Local Power Ltd – a family-run business that has installed the equivalent of over 50ac of solar PV on rooftops across the country in the past few years, Local Power is especially grateful for having being trusted by over 500 farmers to date as their solar PV installer.

“Local Power looked after the whole process from grid and TAMS grant application paperwork to install and support. I’ve been very impressed with the solar PV system.

“We are a robotic dairy and the electricity usage is very high. Over this summer we were 87% self-sufficient which makes a major difference to the bottom line,” said Tom Griffin from Co. Cork.

For more information click here or contact Local Power at 01 8250263.

Nigel Flynn, a poultry farmer in Monaghan, installed a 50kwp system with Local Power Ltd in 2019 and has just expanded the system in 2024 using the dedicated 60% TAMS grant opportunity.

 “Solar PV was one of the best farm investments I have ever made, as the solar PV system buffered our farm from the worst of the energy price volatility over the past few  years, and who knows when the next crisis will take hold,” Flynn said.