16-05-2025
Solar firm Local Power ‘secures extended solar PV warranty'
Irish-based solar business Local Power has said it has reached a deal with its Austrian partner Fronius to deliver a 15-year parts and labour warranty for power inverters for its solar PV customers for the rest of 2025.
A power inverter is a key advice in solar electricity generation that converts direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC), which can be then used on the farm or provided to the electricity grid.
Fronius was founded in 1945 and is a family-run enterprise which is currently employing over 7,000 staff. It has been manufacturing inverters for the past 30 years.
Local Power said the warranty is a 'key benefit in such a highly competitive marketplace', and supports the 30-year product and performance warranties offered by German manufacturer Solarwatt, which manufactures the solar PV panels provided by Local Power.
The Irish firm said that the new deal was agreed ahead of the closure of tranche 7 of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine's Solar Capital Investment Scheme (SCIS), part of the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS), on June 6.
Local Power managing director Pat Smith said: 'The extended warranty we've secured with Fronius will provide additional peace of mind for customers when it comes to the quality and robustness of their solar PV investment.
He added: 'To celebrate almost 10 years in business, we recently met with Fronius in Austria, where we struck our extended warranty deal, which not only underlines the strength of our partnership but is indicative of the confidence that Fronius has in the quality of its inverter technology.'
Solar PV
Smith said that, for solar PV investment, a two-to-three-year payback is 'currently guaranteed' for Irish farmers due to the 60% TAMS grant, VAT refund and 100% accelerated capital allowance.
'Connections which permit the export of surplus power to the grid are going to become more difficult to secure as more and more renewables are connected.
'Therefore, a grid connection agreement is valuable and essentially a contract which allows customers to export energy for payment indefinitely into the future,' Smith said.
According to Local Power, every kilowatt-peak (kwp) of solar installed reduces carbon by up to 500kg annually.
'We're building out close on 10 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar a year, majoring on farms and businesses across the length and breadth of Ireland, from Donegal to Kerry,' Smith said.
He also cited an arrangement between Local Power and Rabobank, which allows customers to match savings made on their electricity bills against repayments over a three-year period.
'We work very closely with our farming community and are continuing to develop our farm and agribusiness footprint right across the country.
'We hope that our extended warranty offer and other key benefits demonstrate our support for progressive farm practices as part of an industry which is helping to both build and secure Ireland's renewable future,' Smith added.
