No VAT on Solar PV installations (Supply and Install)

A Green party TD that has no idea about solar PV, in 2023? The party as a whole promoting diesels because they are clean because they have low CO2 emissions? I've heard it all now. Perhaps some of us in here should take over that party and show it what being green is all about.

You and I have an E\W split so we don't get the output highs of S facing. So the smaller inverter size is deffo less an impact on E\W. Or on smaller systems.

My 5kWp system gets to 4kW at the highest and even that is a short spike.

@the_amazing_raisin - "if that company sells over €10k of stuff to Ireland in a calendar year then they need to apply Irish VAT"

I didn't know the threshold was that low. Every day is a school day!

Yup DC999, I do have a E/W split, although I recently upgraded to 6.5Kwp in panels now and I (very briefly) hit the limit of my 5kw inverter, for about 10 mins last week. It maxes out at 5637 watts exactly. In fact if you DO hit the limit with a E/W due to the profile of the curve being "flatter" than a pure south, your actually more impacted by clipping......but even still it's generally minor impact.

The above would be a south install, and you can see the amount of area being clipped is actually fairly small compared to the area underneath it. Also remember your not taking about 1x specific day, but the production of the installation for the entire year. Most of the time, it's not May, with the sun directly overhead on a cool'ish day. More likely the middle of Sept and it's cloudy and your inverter is struggling to make 2kw :-)

That said, given the choice I'd want a 6Kw myself, but in truth it's not THAT big a deal.

Might be going a little off the original topic of VAT, but yeah, likewise I think very difficult to enforce it. All existing 6Kw inverters out there are "grandfathered in" and I -think- that most inverter makes/models will apply a config to the devices which would be explicit for the Irish market. i.e. my suspicion is that they'll be the same physical device as the 6kw but tweaked with the "Eirgrid config" to only allow 5kw export, if you know what i mean.

According to this press release on gov.ie, from May 1st:

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/977ed-ministers-mcgrath-ryan-announce-a-zero-rate-of-vat-for-the-supply-and-installation-of-solar-panels-for-private-dwellings-from-may-1st-2023/

You can't claim back VAT if you don't generate any :-)

Basically you charge VAT on sales, then you can deduct VAT from your purchases. The resulting amount has to be at least zero (and will even then raise a red flag)

Yep, pretty much. Won't be an Irish supplier though but you might find one in the EU that does. It still means you are supposed to pay VAT upon entry into Ireland, but you will likely get away with it if the parcel doesn't get intercepted. Which it likely won't as it is coming from within the EU.

Exactly the same stupid 💩 they did with giving money back for new builds and the builders pocketed it all... clowns