Commercial Solar Panels for Your Business.

Unfortunately, not every business premise is suitable for solar. Firstly, rented properties aren’t suitable without the landlord’s consent, or unless the landlord chooses to buy themselves. Secondly, your roof needs to be in a suitable condition, as whilst solar panels are relatively light, loading and installation of the system must be considered and safety is always a priority.

Finally, if your roof is heavily shaded, it may not be suitable for solar. However if shading is only in some parts of the roof space, options are available to maximise your performance with shading in mind.

Businesses have traditionally relied on fossil fuels like oil or gas or used electricity from the energy companies to generate heat. Solar panels are a greener choice because they are a low-carbon renewable source of energy generated from daylight. The electricity produced can meet your energy demands to power your business, and any excess can be stored in solar batteries, or even exported back to the Grid. As with all technologies, solar isn’t perfect and in the production and distribution of solar panels there are carbon impacts, however, these are typically offset within a short time of installation.

Your solar savings will vary according to the size of your solar set-up, weather conditions, shading and orientation. Additionally, your electricity use during the day will impact how much solar panels will save you. Your savings should be generated for the entire lifespan of your solar panels which is expected to be 25+ years.

Planning permission is not usually required for solar panels on commercial settings as they are normally considered ‘Permitted Development’. This is subject to the installation meeting the conditions laid down including size, height, distance from the property boundary, and visibility.

The time taken for a solar installation at a commercial premises will depend on the size and specific requirements of the project. Commercial installations can require multiple days to be installed, especially if the premises and roof space are large, and therefore requiring significant numbers of solar panels.

Solar doesn’t require direct sunlight in order to generate, so electricity can still be produced on cloudier days, albeit at a lower rate. When your solar system is not producing electricity at sufficient rate to meet your business needs, you will just draw electricity from the grid, as you did prior to the solar installation.

Commercial solar panels will usually last between 20-25 years, but for more modern solar panels the lifespan could even reach 40 years. Efficiency can reduce over time and inverters need to be maintained and occasionally replaced, but overall the lifespan of solar panels is long, allowing you to get a return on your investment several times over.

Businesses can claim tax relief under the Annual Investment Allowance of up to £1 Million. This tax break allows you to take 100% of qualifying investments off of your taxable profits, thus reducing your corporation tax bill and in turn the cost of going solar. As an example, a solar PV system costing £166,600 could be reduced to £134,946 – being reduced by £31,654 (19% Corporation Tax). You may only claim a saving on solar against the Annual Investment Allowance if you have not exhausted the £1 Million annual cap. For more information read our full article on solar panel capital allowances. 

We know that a commercial solar PV system can be a significant outlay for some businesses and for this reason it is possible to pay the costs in instalments. We can refer you to asset finance providers to fund your system and pay for it over a period of 10 years.

When you first get in touch we will contact you and then use advanced third-party modelling software to design your bespoke system. Once you are happy with this proposal, we will conduct a site survey to finalise your system’s technical designs. At this stage, you will need to sign your agreement to proceed and we will book your installation date, typically within 2 weeks. The time taken to install your solar system will depend on the size and complexity of your installation.

Make the first step towards lower energy bills, long-term savings and a much-reduced carbon footprint for your business by inquiring about solar today.

*All performance figures and saving amounts are estimates only and cannot be guaranteed