Commercial Solar Panel Grants UK: What Is Actually Available

For a typical private business, such as an office, warehouse, shop or factory, there is currently no national cash grant that pays for rooftop solar. Several schemes do exist, but each is limited to particular types of organisation, sector or area:

• Public sector: funding for schools, NHS sites and other public buildings, through Great British Energy and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme
• Farms: Defra's Improving Farm Productivity grant has funded rooftop solar on farm buildings, although no round was open at the time of writing
• Regional: the Local Growth Fund, launched in April 2026 in mayoral combined authority areas, with programmes set locally
• Community buildings: the Great British Energy Community Fund supports community-led renewable projects, including rooftop solar on community buildings

Grant availability changes frequently, with schemes opening and closing in rounds. Treat any list, including this one, as a starting point and confirm the current position with the scheme administrator before you plan around it.

Many guides online still list schemes that are no longer taking applications, so it helps to know what has gone.

• UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF): closed to new applications on 31 March 2026. It was the main route through which councils and combined authorities offered business solar grants in 2024 and 2025, often covering a share of installation costs for small and medium businesses.
• Rural England Prosperity Fund: also ended in March 2026. Some local authorities had used it to fund energy projects for rural businesses.
• Farming Equipment and Technology Fund 2026: closed on 12 May 2026 and did not include solar or battery items.
• Business Energy Scotland SME Loan: the interest-free loan remains available for other energy efficiency measures, but the scheme stated in May 2026 that it was not accepting new solar PV applications.

If an installer or website quotes a grant from one of these schemes, ask which open scheme they mean and check it on the administrator's website.

The public sector has the strongest grant support for solar. In March 2025, Great British Energy announced its first major programme: around £180 million for rooftop solar in England, with roughly £80 million for about 200 schools and £100 million for nearly 200 NHS sites. Separate allocations went to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for public building and community projects. The first schools were generating by June 2025, and some hospital installations exceed 4MW.

Alongside this, the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, administered by Salix, funds energy and heat decarbonisation projects in public buildings, and solar can form part of a wider application.

Eligibility rules, application windows and match-funding requirements differ between programmes and rounds. Schools usually apply through their local authority, trust or the Department for Education's process, and NHS bodies through their own estates channels.

Public bodies also need to follow procurement rules, which is where frameworks come in. Read more about public sector options on our public sector and education solar page.

Farms have had the most generous grant terms available to private businesses. Defra's Improving Farm Productivity grant funded up to 25% of eligible costs for solar PV, with grants from £15,000 to £100,000 per business. That meant a project needed eligible costs of at least £60,000 to qualify for the minimum grant.

The scheme funded:

• Solar panels on farm building roofs and on irrigation reservoirs
• Battery storage, inverters and associated electrical works
• Some grid connection costs

It did not fund ground-mounted solar, and it excluded roof strengthening, which favoured projects on buildings that were already sound.

Round 2 has closed, and at the time of writing no further round had been announced. Defra has run farm investment grants in rounds for several years, so it is worth keeping a farm solar project ready to apply quickly if a new round opens. The Defra Farming blog usually announces openings several weeks before the guidance pages.

Read more about farm installations on our agriculture and agribusiness solar page.

Outside the public sector and farming, the main grant opportunities are local and change from area to area.

• Local Growth Fund: launched on 1 April 2026 for mayoral combined authority areas, largely in the North and Midlands. Each authority designs its own programmes, so business energy grants may or may not be offered in your area.
• Combined authority and council schemes: some areas run their own business decarbonisation programmes, sometimes combining an energy audit with a capital contribution towards measures such as solar.
• Great British Energy Community Fund: supports community organisations installing renewable energy, including rooftop solar on buildings such as village halls, community centres, sports clubs and faith buildings.

Regional grants are typically a contribution towards costs rather than full funding, and they often have short application windows and limited budgets that are allocated on a first-come basis.

The quickest way to find out what is open locally is to contact your combined authority's business support service or growth hub. Ask specifically whether any current programme funds solar PV.

Searches for commercial solar grants produce many offers of "fully funded", "free" or "zero-cost" solar. Most of these are not grants. They are usually one of three things:

• A power purchase agreement (PPA): a funder installs and owns the system, and you agree to buy its electricity for 15 to 25 years at an agreed rate, often quoted around 10p to 15p per kWh. It can be a sensible arrangement, but it is a long-term contract, not free money.
• A rent-a-roof arrangement: an investor leases your roof, owns the panels and may supply some electricity to you. Most of the value goes to the investor.
• Tax relief described as a grant: the Annual Investment Allowance is valuable, but it reduces your tax bill rather than paying towards your installation.

None of these is wrong in itself, but each has very different economics from a grant. Ask any provider who will own the system, what you will pay and for how long, and what happens if you sell or vacate the building. Our guide to commercial solar costs explains how ownership models compare.

For most profitable businesses, tax relief delivers more support than any grant they could realistically obtain, and it is available everywhere without an application window.

• Annual Investment Allowance (AIA): solar panels are special-rate plant and machinery, and the AIA lets businesses deduct qualifying spend of up to £1 million in full from taxable profits in the year of purchase. For a company paying corporation tax at 25%, that is worth up to £25,000 on a £100,000 system, the same value as a 25% grant.
• First-year allowance above the AIA: companies spending more than the AIA limit may be able to claim a first-year allowance on the excess special-rate spend, with the balance written down at 6% a year.
• Business rates exemption: in England, eligible on-site renewable generation and storage is exempt from business rates until 31 March 2035, so a rooftop system should not increase your rates bill.
• VAT recovery: VAT-registered businesses can normally reclaim the VAT on the installation in the usual way.

Tax treatment depends on how your business is structured and how the system is owned, so confirm the position with your accountant.

The most expensive mistake with any capital grant is signing the installation contract too early. Most grant schemes will not fund work that has already been ordered or started, and many require you to wait for written approval before you commit. A business that signs with an installer and then applies for a grant can find its entire project ineligible.

If there is any chance of grant funding, follow this order:

1. Get indicative quotes and a design, so you know the eligible cost
2. Check eligibility and the application window with the scheme administrator
3. Apply, including any quotes the scheme requires
4. Wait for written approval
5. Only then sign the installation contract and place orders

Ask your installer to make any quote conditional on grant approval, and to confirm in writing that no work or equipment orders will begin before then. Installers experienced in grant-funded projects will expect this and can help with the paperwork.

Also check whether the grant affects your tax position. Grant-funded expenditure generally cannot also be claimed for capital allowances, so the net benefit may be smaller than the headline percentage suggests.

Where no grant is available, other routes can make commercial solar affordable without a large upfront payment:

• Asset finance: spreads the cost over a fixed term, often three to seven years. Because the business usually owns the equipment, capital allowances generally remain available, and on a well-matched site the energy savings can cover the repayments from the first year.
• Leasing: similar monthly payments, but the lessor owns the equipment during the lease.
• Power purchase agreement: no upfront cost and immediate savings against grid prices, in exchange for lower long-term savings than outright ownership.

The Smart Export Guarantee also pays for electricity you export, for systems up to 5MW. Export rates offered to businesses are usually modest, so a system sized to use most of its output on site benefits more from avoided grid costs than from export payments.

Our commercial solar payback guide shows how each option affects the return.

Because grants open and close in rounds, a short check before you commit can save a significant sum. Work through these sources:

• GOV.UK: the government's business support and funding finder lists current national schemes.
• Your growth hub or combined authority: the best source for Local Growth Fund and regional business energy programmes.
• Sector bodies: farms should watch the Defra Farming blog; public bodies should check Salix and Great British Energy programme pages.
• Devolved governments: businesses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should check their own national business energy services, as schemes differ from England.
• Installers: experienced commercial installers track local schemes and can tell you what clients in your area have used recently.

Have indicative quotes ready, because many schemes ask for them with the application and windows can close quickly. Compare quotes from up to three MCS-certified commercial installers so you know your eligible costs before a funding round opens. You can also read more about system options on our commercial solar page.