Invest NI grants and NISEP: Northern Ireland business energy grants in 2026

Northern Ireland business energy funding: key facts

Northern Ireland business energy grants in 2026: open, paused and closed

Northern Ireland runs its own energy schemes, and several GB grants stop at the Irish Sea. Here's everything we could confirm on primary sources on 1 November 2026: what's open, what's paused and what's closed.

The NISEP 20% grant for business solar panels and LED lighting

The Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme (NISEP) is paid for by every NI electricity customer through a public service obligation on their bills. Energy Saving Trust runs it for the Utility Regulator. Most NISEP schemes help homes, but one is for businesses: the Commercial Energy Saving Scheme. These are the terms in the Utility Regulator's list of schemes for April 2026 to March 2027.

What it pays towards

• Generation: solar PV and solar thermal.
• Lighting: LED lighting.
• Heating: boiler replacement, heat recovery, intelligent heating controls and infra-red heating.
• Process kit: variable speed technologies, voltage optimisation, turbo blowers, steam or heated regeneration dryers and UV LED curing systems.

What 20% is worth

Our examples, not the scheme's, assuming the next round keeps the same terms: a £40,000 rooftop system would get £8,000. A £200,000 system works out at £40,000, so the £30,000 cap applies. Add the tax relief below and the net cost drops again. For what systems cost, see our commercial solar panel cost guide (it uses GB data).

The rules that catch people out

• You can't get NISEP money for a measure already funded at the same property by another grant programme.
• If the property had a grant for the same measure in the last 15 years, it normally isn't eligible (exceptions can be considered, such as a boiler broken beyond repair).
• Don't sign an installer's order before Power NI's grant offer letter arrives: work ordered or started first won't be funded.

Invest NI grants for energy: what's open, paused and closed

"Invest NI grants" is a big search. For energy, here's where each Invest NI scheme stands on 1 November 2026. Some support is open to any NI business that meets the criteria; some is only for Invest NI clients.

Open: Technical Consultancy and Carbon and Sustainability Reports

If your business spends more than £30,000 a year on energy and resources (heating, electricity, water, waste and raw materials added together), Invest NI will fund a specialist consultant for a bespoke energy or resource efficiency project. It covers nine specialist areas, including renewable technology systems and energy management, with projects such as heat recovery or electrical supply optimisation. Its Carbon and Sustainability Reports look at energy, carbon, materials, packaging, biodiversity and waste, and give you a tailored report. Call the Invest NI Business Support Team on 0800 181 4422. For what a review usually covers, see our business energy audit guide.

Paused: Energy Efficiency Capital Grant

Launched in April 2024, the Energy Efficiency Capital Grant helped NI businesses buy energy-saving kit. Invest NI says it paused the scheme after one year to review its performance and isn't taking enquiries or applications. Under the 2024 guidance notes it was a reimbursement grant, worth:

Solar PV and battery storage for renewable energy were on its list, with lighting, heating and cooling, motors and drives and compressed air. Projects needed at least £4,000 of eligible spend and a 1 to 8 year payback, and the business had to be a registered company trading for 2+ years. Charities, farms and sports clubs weren't eligible. Invest NI hasn't given a reopening date. If it comes back, a quote with clear savings figures is what you'll need.

Closed: Shared Island Sustainability Capital Grant

This all-island grant, part of the €30 million Shared Island Enterprise Scheme, put €10 million into each jurisdiction for large decarbonisation projects at manufacturing and industrial sites, including onsite renewable generation and heat electrification. In NI it was for Invest NI clients, with a minimum project of £5 million, a maximum grant of £6 million and rates capped at 50% (small), 45% (medium) and 30% (large). Invest NI says it's closed to new applications.

Closed: Resource Efficiency Capital Grant

Up to £50,000 for Invest NI clients buying kit that cuts raw material, water or waste. The call closed, with no new applications issued after 27 March 2026.

Paying for business solar in Northern Ireland: tax, rates and export

Even when a NISEP round is open and covers 20% (the next is expected in April 2027), the rest of a business solar project is usually paid from cash, finance or savings. Three things change the sums.

Tax relief works the same as in GB

Capital allowances are UK-wide. Solar panels are special-rate plant for tax. The Annual Investment Allowance (£1 million a year) can write off the cost in year one. Above that, companies can claim the 50% first-year allowance. See solar panel capital allowances. VAT: Ordinary business premises pay 20% VAT on solar, batteries and heat pumps, which VAT-registered businesses can normally reclaim. The 0% rate is only for homes and buildings used solely for a relevant charitable purpose, and it runs to 31 March 2027. Care homes count as residential accommodation for VAT, so their solar is zero-rated too: see solar panels for care homes.

Business rates: the 50kW line

This is where NI differs from England, Wales and Scotland, which leave on-site renewables out of rates until 2035. In NI, the Rates (Microgeneration) Order 2012 means plant with microgeneration capacity isn't counted in your rating valuation. That covers solar and other renewables generating up to 50kW of electricity, and heat pumps and other renewable heat up to 45kW thermal. Solar panels are still on the list of rateable plant above that size, so a large array could add to your net annual value. Land & Property Services values business property in NI, so ask before you go well past 50kW.

Getting paid for export

The Smart Export Guarantee doesn't apply: Ofgem says installations must be in Great Britain. NIE Networks says that to export you need a purchase contract with an electricity supplier, and it has no part in that deal. So size the system for what you use on site: every unit you use yourself is one you don't buy. See solar panels for small business and our sector guides for retail solar panels, factory solar panels and warehouse solar panels.

No capital at all?

Some sites suit a commercial solar PPA, where a funder owns the panels and you buy the power. Ask installers whether one is offered for your site. Every grant route we track is on our commercial solar panel grants page.

Planning and grid connection for business solar in Northern Ireland

Permitted development (Part 37)

NI has its own permitted development order. Part 37 lets you fit solar PV or solar thermal panels on a building that isn't a house or a block of flats without planning permission, within these limits:

Part 37 is headed "non domestic microgeneration", and the order defines microgeneration as plant generating no more than 50kW. So for bigger rooftop systems, check with your council planning office before you commit. A solar carport canopy will be taller than the 2 metre stand-alone limit, so expect to need permission.

Grid connection: NIE Networks, not a GB DNO

In GB you apply to your distribution network operator under G98 or G99 (see our G99 application guide). In NI it's NIE Networks, with its own versions of the rules:

• G98/NI: micro systems up to 16A per phase (3.68kW single phase or 11.04kW three phase). "Fit and inform": your installer fits it and tells NIE Networks within 30 days.
• G99/NI Fast Track: a quicker route for some systems above that, but still approved before you install. Its limits changed on 1 May 2026.
• G99/NI: everything bigger. Approval must be granted before installation, and there's an application fee.

Most business systems are bigger than the G98/NI limit, so expect a G99 route and build the approval time into your plan. Your installer normally applies for you.

Heat pumps, LED lighting and EV chargers for NI businesses

Heat pumps: no Boiler Upgrade Scheme

GOV.UK says the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is open in England and Wales only, and Northern Ireland's Boiler Replacement Scheme is closed. The NI non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive was suspended to new applications on 29 February 2016. What helps instead: heat pumps up to 45kW thermal are left out of your rating valuation, the Annual Investment Allowance covers most plant and machinery, and NISEP's commercial scheme pays 20% towards heat recovery and heating controls (its 2026/27 round is closed; the next is expected in April 2027). See commercial heat pumps and, for process heat, industrial heat pumps.

LED lighting: 20% from NISEP

LED lighting is on the NISEP commercial list, capped at £30,000 of grant, and it was on Invest NI's paused capital grant list too. Power NI says the 2026/27 NISEP round has closed, with the next expected in April 2027. See commercial LED lighting.

EV chargers: the Workplace Charging Scheme covers NI

The scheme runs in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Workplace Charging Scheme pays up to £500 per socket (it went up from £350 on 1 April 2026), capped at 75% of costs, for up to 40 sockets across all your sites. That's up to £20,000. Funding runs until 31 March 2027, its final year. See the Workplace Charging Scheme guide.

Farm solar in Northern Ireland

There's no open grant for farm solar in Northern Ireland right now:

• DAERA's Sustainable Farming Investment Scheme paid 40% towards listed equipment, on investments of £3,000 to £62,500, up to £25,000. Round 1 closed at 11:59pm on 3 September 2026. Its item list had heat recovery units, milk plate coolers and variable speed vacuum pumps, but no rooftop solar PV system. DAERA says the scheme will run in rounds over the next three to four years.
• Invest NI's Energy Efficiency Capital Grant excluded farms, and it's paused anyway.
• NISEP's commercial scheme is for commercial and non-domestic properties, and its 2026/27 round has closed. Ask Power NI whether your farm business would qualify when the next round opens.

A shed or barn is a building that isn't a house, so Part 37 permitted development can apply within its limits. The 50kW rates line applies too. Read farm solar panels for barn and shed roofs, and agrivoltaics for dual-use ground-mounted arrays.

Which UK schemes cover Northern Ireland (and which don't)

More on the manufacturers' levy cut: the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme. Got sites in Great Britain too? See Business Energy Scotland and the SME Loan and Welsh business energy grants. Our commercial rooftop solar research uses England and Wales data, but the roof-by-roof logic travels.

Solar for your home in Northern Ireland?

This page and its enquiry form are for businesses. Homeowners have different routes: NISEP's fully funded Toasty Homes scheme for some lower-income households, 0% VAT, the Warm Homes Loan and Power NI's export rate. They're all in our guide to solar panels and solar panel grants for homes in Northern Ireland, with its own quote form. Insulating your home? See insulation grants in Northern Ireland for the Affordable Warmth Scheme and NISEP's free loft and cavity wall schemes.

How we help (and what we don't do)

We don't give grants or loans, run NISEP or Invest NI schemes, or apply for you. Power NI, Invest NI and DAERA do that. We do the step every route needs: once you know what you want to install, we pass your enquiry to one suitable installer that does commercial work, for a survey and a full quote with the costs and savings set out.

Every UK route, nation by nation, is on the business energy grants hub.