Kieran Coughlan: The numbers stacked up for solar success... even without Tams

Confusion over whether farmers who availed of a Tams grant were entitled to get paid for exporting to the grid led to farming columnist and rural tax adviser Kieran Coughlan going his own way to install solar PV

The additional cost over and above what I would have saved via Tams was, of course, deductible as an expense, and solar panels generally qualify for 100% tax relief.

It has been nearly 12 months since we installed solar panels on the bullhouse roof, it being the only shed in the farm yard with a southerly aspect. Unfortunately, all of the other sheds were either of the round roof variety or lean-to sheds facing east and west.

I did consider fixing solar panels on a mix of east and west roofs such that they would balance each other out, the easterly panels generating well in the morning and the westerly making up the afternoon, but in the end, the bullhouse roof was chosen.