Guide
Solar panels for business: what UK companies need to know before committing
Commercial solar works well on the right building and disappoints on the wrong one. The difference is usually consumption pattern rather than roof size. This is how to tell which one you have before you spend anything.
The short version
- Solar pays best where the electricity is used on site during daylight, not where it is exported.
- Your half hourly consumption data answers the viability question more reliably than a roof survey does.
- Roof condition and remaining life matter as much as orientation. A system outlives most roof coverings.
- Funding routes split between owning the system and buying the power. Owning captures more value if capital or funding is available.
Which businesses solar actually suits
The strongest cases are daytime loads: manufacturing on day shifts, cold storage, packing and distribution, food production, leisure centres, care homes, schools and offices with meaningful cooling. These sites consume as the array generates, so every unit generated displaces a unit bought at full import price.
The weakest cases are sites whose demand sits outside daylight hours or is highly seasonal against generation. That does not rule solar out, but it moves the decision towards pairing with storage or shifting some load rather than sizing for the roof.
Sizing against consumption, not against roof space
The common mistake is filling the roof. A system sized to the roof will export a large share of its output, and export is worth considerably less than avoided import. A system sized to the daytime baseload delivers a much stronger return per pound spent.
Pull twelve months of half hourly data from your supplier. It shows the shape of the day, the weekend profile and the seasonal swing, and it turns sizing from an opinion into arithmetic.
- Identify the daytime baseload, the level demand rarely falls below while you are operating.
- Size the array to cover that first, then decide whether to go beyond it.
- Model the export share honestly at current export rates, not at import rates.
- Consider whether a battery moves surplus generation into your evening demand.
The building questions to settle first
A commercial array is a twenty five year asset installed on a covering that may have ten years left. Establishing roof condition and remaining life at the start avoids the worst outcome in this sector, which is stripping a working array to replace the roof underneath it.
- Age, condition and remaining life of the roof covering.
- Structural capacity for the additional load, confirmed in writing.
- Asbestos cement sheeting, which changes both method and cost.
- Lease length and landlord consent where the building is not owned.
- Distance from the array to the switch room, which drives the cable cost.
The three routes to getting it installed
Cash purchase captures all the value and ties up capital. Asset finance spreads the cost over three to seven years, keeps working capital available and often lands close to cash neutral where the monthly saving offsets much of the repayment. A power purchase agreement puts no capital in at all: a provider funds, owns and maintains the system and you buy the power it generates at an agreed rate.
None of these is universally right. The honest test is whether you value ownership of the long term generation or certainty of cost with no capital exposure.
FAQs
Common questions
The questions that come up most often on this subject.
Are solar panels worth it for a UK business?
Where the business consumes electricity during daylight hours, usually yes, because each unit generated displaces a unit bought at the full import rate. Where demand sits mostly outside daylight, the case weakens and depends on pairing with storage or shifting load. The half hourly consumption data answers it quickly.
How much do commercial solar panels cost?
Indicatively £800 to £950 per kWp for systems under 50 kWp, £700 to £850 between 50 and 250 kWp, and £600 to £750 above that, fully installed. Access, roof type and cable run length drive more variation than panel brand.
What is the payback period on commercial solar?
Commonly quoted at four to seven years on a well matched site, but the figure is only as good as the assumptions behind it. Check whether the model uses your actual import rate, a realistic self consumption share and a sensible export price, because optimism in any of those shortens payback on paper and not in reality.
Can a business get solar with no upfront cost?
Two routes exist. Asset finance funds the installed system and you repay over an agreed term while owning it at the end on hire purchase. A power purchase agreement involves no capital and no ownership: a provider funds and maintains the system and you buy the power. Which is better depends on whether you want the long term generation or simply a lower rate.
Do I need planning permission for commercial solar?
Many rooftop commercial installations fall under permitted development, but there are exceptions for listed buildings, conservation areas and larger ground mounted schemes. Your installer should confirm the position for the specific site before ordering equipment.