Commercial Solar Panels

Why solar?

Solar makes seriously good sense for any business or campus (university, college, school, hospital or business park), with a decent roof or plot of land and a long-term intention to stay in their premises for 10+ years. Ideally the business should own the freehold of their premises, or have a long-lease over the property.

The lifetime cost per kWh of solar electricity is now 5.5p per kWh... this compares to 10-12p for electricity purchased from the grid.

In the right business, the system will more than pay for itself, should be financable if necessary and will significantly improve your company’s impact on the environment.

Cost and financial returns

Rooftop solar panels usually cost between £650 and £1200 per kWp installed, depending on roof access costs, covering and pitch. A 50kWp system will cost anywhere between £33,000 and £55,000 plus VAT.

A kWp typically gives a saving of around £110 per year, so £5,500 for a 50kWp system, giving a payback time of between 6 and 10 years. The panels will last 25 years or so (with one inverter replacement expected during this time). The return over 20 years is usually 9-18% (IRR%).

Most of the return comes in the form of a reduced electricity bill – for a typical business, each kWh generated by the solar system is worth around 12p if used on site, and 5p if exported to the grid.

On average over 25 years (taking into account degradation of panels), a kWp will generate 750-900kWh a year. That's around 20,000 kWh over the life. So the cost per kWh of solar energy is only around 5.5p per kWh. Now that's something to shout about!

The grid cost is 12p for the typical business, and rising... and rising...

Grants, subsidies and incentives

Given that the payback time of most energy generation and reduction projects is much lower than the expected system life, projects can be financed such that the overall cashflow profile is positive, or at least neutral, in the early years.

We have developed relationships with many finance partners providing different forms of energy-efficiency finance. All have one aim: to help businesses and public sector organisations to implement sustainable business strategies that deliver a competitive advantage at no up-front cost.

Low Carbon Workspaces – grants of up to £5,000 for SMEs based in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire.
Power Purchase Agreement – an investor pays for the panels, and the business gets discounted electricity, cheaper than grid electricity.
Lease finance.

Why Spirit?

We’re MCS approved solar PV installers – an award winning, specialist company that has installed projects across the south of England, typically with a value of £1000 - £2 million.

We have a proactive approach and take pride in our ability to combine bespoke solutions with best value for money. All of our work is undertaken in-house, this allows us to pay attention to the detail and deliver technical excellent solutions at a very reasonable cost. Having installed systems for almost 10 years, we know most equipment suppliers and can recommend the best technology for each client.

We have a first class in house team of engineers. They love a challenge and enjoy designing bespoke solutions, whether using building integrated technology (e.g. solar glass, solar roof tiles), customised triangular panels, or off-grid technology.

Finally we provide full O&M support for the life of the system.