Commercial Blog

Is it possible to get free solar panels for businesses? A lot has changed since solar first started gaining popularity, with prices falling around 50% in the last decade and many of the initial subsidies like the Feed-in Tariff closed to new applicants. But there are still opportunities for companies to benefit from financed solar systems, the most promising of which are Solar PPAs.

We hear more and more about Blockchain technology.  The technology creates a transparent public ledger that records series of transactions, facilitating a fast, low-cost, trusted transfer of value without the involvement of traditional intermediaries.  

Already used in the financial sector, it’s only a matter of time before Blockchain hits the energy sector in a major way, particularly with the explosion of micro-generation of electricity, the ending of solar subsidies, and the advent of smart meters.

With Octopus Energy claiming to have paid customers to use excess electricity at night on four occasions in the last 12 months, real time peer-to-peer trading of electricity is surely just around the corner. Other potential applications include authentication of renewable generation and trading of emissions permits.

Are you responsible for a commercial property or a commercial / residential property portfolio? Or are you an architect, specifier, commercial end user, engineer, contractor or consultant seeking to learn more about solar PV or battery storage?

If so you many be interested in our FREE CPD accredited training courses.

Driving around business parks and industrial estates (as I do...), I am frequently struck by how many flat roofed industrial buildings there are, and how few of them have solar panels on them.

Flat roof solar tends to cost slightly more than sloping roof solar, but it's still worth doing - payback times of 7-9 years are typical, versus an expected life of 20-30 years.

In simple terms the lifetime cost per kWh generated is around 4.5p. With the Feed-in Tariff subsidy that falls to around 3p per kWh! 

You really should want one...

3p per kWh is pretty amazing, particularly when compared to a grid cost of 10-15p per kWh and rising. So if your premises has a flat roof, don't dismiss it. Call us and we'll assess the viability of the installation for you. 

In the mean time, here are a few key things to be aware of, including the optimal panel slope, the optimal orientation, fixing type, ballast, and roof warranties.

As a rule of thumb, with the decline in Feed-in Tariffs and the advent of battery storage, a grid-connected commercial solar system is best sized with an annual output (kWh) approximately equal to the annual load of the business / property.  

So if your load is 36,000kWh a year, and a kWp outputs 900kWh a year, size the system at 40 kWp.

What if your roof is too small to achieve this with standard panels? Which panel do you turn to?