Best Solar Proposal Software Ireland: 2026 Guide

An Irish solar proposal has two numbers that resist averaging. The SEAI grant tapers by kilowatt band rather than scaling with system size, so support per kilowatt falls sharply above 2 kWp and stops at 4. And the Clean Export Guarantee is set by the supplier, across a standard range running from roughly 15.2 to 32.0 cents per kWh, so the value of every exported unit varies by more than two to one depending on who the customer buys electricity from. Most proposal tools handle both as flat assumptions, which produces quotes that are wrong for nearly every household and wrong in a direction nobody can predict. This guide compares the platforms Irish installers should shortlist.

Short version. The best solar proposal software for Irish installers in 2026 is SurgePV, because it models the banded SEAI grant and supplier-specific export rates correctly and generates the customer document from the same design record. PVsyst is the bankable simulation reference with no proposal layer. Aurora is built around US net metering, which has no Irish counterpart.

For the design-side comparison see our best solar design software Ireland guide, the shading-specific treatment in solar shading analysis software Ireland, and the global solar proposal software ranking for the category without the local lens.

The Grant Taper Changes Where The Marginal Kilowatt Stops Paying

The SEAI structure is worth spelling out in full, because the shape is unusual.

The right-hand column is the one that drives the recommendation. Going from 2 kWp to 3 kWp draws EUR 200 of support against a full kilowatt of cost. Going from 4 kWp to 6 kWp draws nothing.

This does not mean small systems are the right answer. Above the grant ceiling the marginal kilowatt has to justify itself on energy value alone, and on an Irish roof with good orientation it frequently still does, particularly for a household with high daytime consumption or an electric vehicle. The point is that the argument changes at 4 kWp, and the proposal should make that visible rather than hiding it inside an averaged discount.

Supplier Export Rates Are The Largest Unmodelled Variable

Clean Export Guarantee rates are set by suppliers, and the standard range spans roughly 15.2 to 32.0 cents per kWh. Pinergy at 25.0 cents sits near the high end of standard offerings.

A spread of more than two to one on export value is not a detail. On a system exporting several thousand kilowatt-hours a year, moving between the ends of that range changes annual revenue by hundreds of euro and shifts payback by years.

Three consequences for the document:

Ask which supplier the customer is with, before quoting. It is a one-line question that determines a headline number. Quoting a national average guarantees being wrong for almost everyone.

Say what rate you assumed. If the customer later switches supplier the payback changes, and a proposal that named its assumption survives that conversation. One that buried an average does not.

Treat switching as a recommendation, not an aside. For a household on a low export rate, moving supplier can be worth more than any hardware upgrade on the table. Saying so is unusual, credible, and costs nothing.

The EUR 400 Exemption And Its Quiet Sizing Effect

The first EUR 400 of annual export income is exempt from income tax through the end of 2028. For a typical residential system that covers a good share of export earnings, and it is worth stating plainly because customers frequently assume export income is either fully taxed or not taxed at all.

There is a second-order effect worth understanding even if it does not always belong in the customer document. Export income above EUR 400 is taxable, so the after-tax value of the marginal exported kilowatt-hour falls once a system crosses that threshold. Combined with the grant ceiling at 4 kWp, Irish residential economics have two separate points where the marginal kilowatt gets less attractive. Neither is a reason to undersize, but both belong in the model.

Connection Pathway Decides The Programme

NC6 and NC7 are not two versions of the same form.

The threshold matters commercially because a proposal that promises an installation date has implicitly promised a connection pathway. Below the NC6 limits that is a reasonable promise. Above it, approval is not guaranteed and the timeline is not yours to set. A proposal for a 7 kW single-phase system that quotes the same lead time as a 4 kW one is making a commitment it cannot underwrite.

What Else Belongs In The Document

Planning status, checked rather than assumed. S.I. 493/2022 exempts most rooftop installations within limits, including 15 cm maximum projection on pitched roofs and 50 cm on flat, and ground-mount to 25 square metres. Protected Structures and Architectural Conservation Areas need full permission, and that changes both cost and programme materially.

EN 50549 and RECI registration. Naming the grid protection standard and confirming the contractor is RECI-registered addresses the two questions a technically literate Irish customer asks.

A realistic diffuse-corrected yield. Irish generation modelling that uses direct-beam shading assumptions overstates shading losses and understates output. Our solar shading analysis software Ireland guide covers why.

The Six Platforms Irish Installers Should Evaluate

1. SurgePV, the integrated pick

Banded SEAI grant modelling, supplier-specific Clean Export Guarantee rates, EUR 400 exemption in the cashflow, NC6 and NC7 threshold awareness, diffuse-corrected yield, and white-label proposals with e-signature generated from the same design record. $1,299 to $1,899 per user per year.

2. PVsyst

Bankable simulation for larger commercial and ground-mount projects, frequently named by lenders. No proposal layer and no Irish incentive logic. See our PVsyst alternative review.

3. HelioScope

Capable browser-based engineering for commercial rooftops. No proposal layer, no grant or export modelling. Our HelioScope alternative guide covers the trade-offs.

4. Aurora Solar

Strong residential design built around US net metering, which Ireland does not operate. See our Aurora Solar alternative comparison.

5. Enact Solar

Reasonable financing presentation, with no Irish grant bands or supplier export libraries. See our Enact Solar alternative review.

6. Spreadsheets plus a generic yield tool

The Irish default. Flexible, and the usual home of a hard-coded grant percentage and a national average export rate.

Ireland Solar Proposal Software Comparison

Worked Example: 5 kWp Residential, Low Versus High Export Rate

An illustrative calculation, not a specific customer project. Inputs: 5 kWp array, roughly 4,500 kWh annual generation, 35% self-consumption, 2,925 kWh exported, SEAI grant at the EUR 1,800 maximum, identical hardware and installation in both columns.

Same roof, same array, same grant, and a difference over the system life comparable to a meaningful fraction of the installation cost. Nothing in the design changed. The only variable was which supplier the household happened to be with when the proposal was written.

That is the argument for asking the question and modelling the answer. It is also, for a household on the low end, the single highest-value piece of advice in the document, and it has nothing to do with what you are selling.

Who Should Choose What

• Choose SurgePV if you need banded grant modelling, supplier-specific export rates and proposals from the same design record.
• Choose PVsyst where a lender names it on commercial or ground-mount work, paired with separate quoting.
• Choose HelioScope if your team is engineering-only on commercial rooftops.
• Avoid Aurora and Enact for Irish work. Neither models the grant taper or the export rate spread that decide the numbers here.

After signing, pipeline and follow-up sit in a CRM. QuickEstimate takes the handoff from SurgePV by API.

A proposal tool only earns its place inside a working stack. The wider solar software picture in Ireland covers what sits either side of it.

The Bottom Line

Irish proposals fail on two averaged numbers that should never be averaged.

• Model the grant band, not a percentage. Support per kilowatt collapses above 2 kWp and stops at 4, and the customer should see where that happens.
• Ask which supplier they are with. Export rates span more than two to one, and it is the largest unmodelled variable in most Irish quotes.
• Name the connection pathway. NC6 is a notification you control, NC7 is an application you do not, and the promised timeline should reflect which one applies.