Solar Panel Grants and Funding for Organisations

Find funding for your type of organisation

• Businesses: local capital grants, capital allowances, business rates, export payments, finance and PPAs.
• Schools and academies: Great British Energy programmes, the Department for Education’s PPA pilot and your own capital budget.
• Churches and places of worship: Church of England net zero grants, Christian trusts, faculty permission and 0% VAT.
• Charities and community buildings: 0% VAT, community energy funds, sports club funding and local community grants.

We run your grant application with you

Grant forms take time most organisations don’t have, so we take on the heavy lifting. We run the grant application with you and do the legwork: technical details, quotes, generation forecasts and paperwork. We’ll check which funds you’re eligible for, gather the evidence funders ask for and keep the application moving. If the grant pays in stages, we’ll work to that schedule.

Why solar is worth looking at, grant or no grant

• Daytime use. Every unit your roof generates and you use on site is a unit you don’t buy from the grid.
• Batteries stretch the day. Stored midday surplus suits halls, clubs and churches that are busier after dark.
• Surplus earns money under the Smart Export Guarantee.

Most of the projects we install stack up on the savings alone. A grant is the bonus, not the business case.

Grants and funding routes that exist today

Great British Energy (GBE). The government’s publicly owned energy company has funded rooftop solar on schools, colleges, NHS sites and military sites in England, with government selecting the sites. Its Community Fund supports community-owned clean energy at feasibility, development and capital stages, and the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub helps local groups apply. Rounds open periodically, so we’ll check what’s live for you. Department for Education PPA pilot. DfE is piloting privately funded, no-upfront-cost solar for schools and colleges in regions including Yorkshire and the Humber. DfE selects the schools and hopes to open the route to all schools from 2027 to 2028. See solar panels for schools. Church funding. The Church of England’s Net Zero Carbon Programme and diocesan Quick Wins grants support church net zero work, and Benefact Trust’s building grants can include solar PV and batteries. See solar panels for churches. Local and combined authority funds. In our home patch of Hull and East Yorkshire, the HEY Growth Hub publishes a handbook of current support. East Riding of Yorkshire Council runs several wind farm community funds, open to community groups, charities, parish councils, schools and faith groups in each fund’s area. Other councils run their own schemes, which come and go. Community energy. A community energy group can sometimes fund and own panels on your roof and sell you the power at a lower rate.

Tax reliefs, VAT and export payments

• Capital allowances (businesses). Solar panels are special rate plant and machinery. The £1 million Annual Investment Allowance can cover them in the year you buy, and companies can claim a 50% first-year allowance on spending above that. Ask your accountant how this applies to you.
• 0% VAT for charity buildings. Since 1 February 2024, solar panels and batteries installed in a building used solely for a relevant charitable purpose are zero-rated until 31 March 2027, then 5%. See solar panels for charities. Commercial installs are charged 20% VAT.
• Business rates. In England, eligible on-site renewable generation and storage kit is exempt from business rates until 31 March 2035. Check with your rating adviser.
• Smart Export Guarantee (SEG). Systems up to 5 MW in Great Britain can be paid for exported electricity by a supplier offering an SEG tariff. Rates vary, and you’ll need an export meter and export MPAN.

Finance if there’s no grant

• Buy outright for the best long-term return.
• Business finance, hire purchase or leasing to spread the cost. See solar finance and solar panel grants for businesses.
• Power Purchase Agreement (PPA): a funder pays for the system and you buy the power it generates at an agreed rate, over a term of 5–25 years. See funded solar with a PPA.

What has closed, so you don’t chase it

• Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS): Phase 4 was the final phase. It funded solar only alongside new low-carbon heating, and it’s closed to new applications.
• UK Shared Prosperity Fund grants: UKSPF ended in March 2026, so many council business energy grants it paid for have finished.
• York and North Yorkshire Business Sustainability Programme: the application window has closed.

Typical costs

System size	Typical installed cost (ex VAT)
30 kWp	about £17,000–£21,000
50 kWp	about £28,000–£37,000
100 kWp	about £50,000–£65,000
150 kWp and above	about £420–£650 per kWp

Battery storage typically costs about £350–£450 per kWh installed. We model payback from your own bills.

How we deliver it, and how we help with funding

1. Free desktop design from your bills and roof.
2. Site survey: roof, structure, shading, electrical supply and access.
3. Proposal: expected generation, an itemised quote and payback, which is the evidence most grant and board applications ask for.
4. G99 grid application, submitted and tracked by us, usually with Northern Powergrid in Yorkshire.
5. Installation, planned around term times, services, shifts or opening hours.
6. MCS handover: MCS certificate, handover pack and monitoring, with ongoing servicing and maintenance available.

Accreditations

• CHAS Elite accredited for health and safety, which public bodies and main contractors often ask for.
• MCS certified (NIC-601602) and a RECC member.
• NICEIC accredited.
• 24-month insurance-backed workmanship warranty on every installation.

See our certifications.

Related case studies

• Grant-funded 21.6 kWp solar for Hessle Sporting Club, funded by the FA (the Football Association).
• 300.06 kWp across an Indurent industrial estate in Peterborough.
• 257 kWp industrial rooftop solar for Integra Buildings in Paull.
• 47.08 kWp on a new-build care home in Clifton, York.