Commercial solar project funding in the UK

What counts as a commercial solar project

A commercial solar project is generation attached to a business, industrial or landholding use — not a domestic rooftop sold as a consumer product. The usual objects are a factory or warehouse roof, a business-park canopy or car park, a commercial building, or a ground-mount array on controlled land.

The technology is photovoltaic generation. What changes the conversation is the site, who uses the power, whether export is intended, and who will own the array once it is built.

Rooftops, warehouses, business parks and ground-mount

Rooftop arrays sit on a building the owner or tenant already uses. Warehouses and industrial roofs are common because they are large, relatively simple and often have daytime electrical demand underneath. Business parks may mix roofs, canopies and shared electrical arrangements. Ground-mount is a land project: access, planning, grid and agricultural or planning constraints matter as much as the modules.

These are not interchangeable. A 400kWp warehouse roof serving on-site load is a different commercial object from a field that exists mainly to export.

Site information that actually matters

You need to know who controls the roof, land or building, where it is, and any constraints you already have — tenants, listed fabric, access, asbestos, warranties, or a landlord who must consent.

Missing facts should stay labelled as missing. A postcode and an intention are enough to start; they are not enough to raise construction capital.

• ▢Who controls the roof, land or electrical supply
• ▢Building or land use and any tenant arrangements
• ▢Known structural, access or planning constraints
• ▢Whether the aim is on-site use, export, or not yet decided
• ▢Any existing surveys, designs or quotes

Consumption and why bills are useful

On-site solar is usually sized against how the building uses electricity, not against a round number of panels. Half-hourly or monthly consumption, operating hours and whether demand is daytime-heavy all change the design envelope.

If you do not have bills yet, say so. Do not invent a self-consumption percentage to make a model look complete.

Design, costing, grid and export

Design turns a roof or field into a stated capacity, layout and electrical arrangement. Costing is a delivery estimate against that scope from people who install. Grid and export sit beside both: a behind-the-meter array may still need a DNO conversation; an exporting array certainly will.

Feasibility tests whether the idea holds. A costing is not a feasibility study, and a feasibility study is not a quote.

Commercial model before funding structure

Who owns the array, who takes the power, who maintains it and who carries construction risk all change the money conversation. Owner-funded install, a third-party owner selling power to the site, and a developer-led ground-mount are different models.

If the structure is not decided, say it is open. Pretending it is a PPA, a lease or a balance-sheet purchase before anyone has agreed that is how counterparties stall.

How funding conversations typically work

Funding can mean the owner’s own capital, a lender, an equity investor, or a partner who funds and owns the hardware. The right conversation depends on stage: an idea needs review or costing; a costed design can support construction or owner-funded install; a developed pack can support investment review.

There is no single solar funding product. Mixing development support, construction capital and refinance into one generic raise is the usual way a conversation dies.

What investors and lenders look for

They look for a site that is controlled, a technical description that matches the roof or land, a cost that came from a real scope, a commercial model that is stated, and a capital ask that matches the gap — not a return figure invented to fill a slide.

Unknowns about structure, grid export or roof condition should be labelled. WattFund helps present that status. It does not certify the project and does not promise that capital will be available.