Supermarket and retail solar panels: daytime power for shops, retail parks and showrooms

Retail solar panels: key facts for 2026

Why shop roofs suit solar: fridges, freezers and lights all day

Solar pays back fastest when you use the power yourself, at the moment it's generated. Retail is a close fit:

• Refrigeration runs 24/7. Chillers, freezers and cold rooms in supermarkets, convenience stores, butchers and delis draw power all day, and work hardest on warm, sunny afternoons, when panels produce the most.
• Lighting and displays run through trading hours. If you haven't moved to LED yet, do it first: it cuts the load the panels need to cover. See commercial LED lighting.
• Cooling, heating and ventilation follow the trading day, and air conditioning peaks in summer.
• Seven-day trading. Unlike offices, most shops trade at weekends, so weekend output is used rather than exported.
• Evening trade. Late opening and overnight refrigeration fall outside solar hours. A battery can move midday surplus into the evening. See commercial battery storage.

Supermarkets, high-street shops, retail parks and showrooms

Most stores need a structural survey before panels go on, especially lightweight steel roofs and older buildings. Rooflights and fragile sheets set where the panels can go, and how the installers work safely.

How much do retail solar panels cost?

The only official UK figures come from DESNZ's solar PV cost data, built from MCS-registered installations up to 50kW. Larger supermarket and retail park systems sit outside that series and are priced on survey.

Illustrative figures multiply the DESNZ cost per kW by system size and are rounded. They include VAT where it applies and exclude batteries, roof repairs and canopies. DESNZ measures cost per kW of declared net capacity (DNC). Installers usually quote per kWp of panels, and DESNZ says costs on that basis (total installed capacity) are typically 6-12% lower: the 10-50kW median is £1,204/kWp. Source: DESNZ solar PV cost data, published 28 May 2026.

VAT-registered retailers can normally reclaim the 20% VAT. For larger systems, see business solar panel costs and the 50kW solar system guide.

Landlord, tenant or retail park owner: who pays?

Many shops are leased. The landlord owns the roof, the tenant pays the electricity bill, and the lease decides what's possible.

For landlords, MEES matters. Since 1 April 2023 you can't keep letting a commercial property in England or Wales rated below EPC E unless you register an exemption. In June 2026 the government dropped the planned EPC C by 2027 step. It now proposes EPC B from 2031 for buildings over 1,000 square metres, where cost-effective. Solar can help a building's rating, so model it with an EPC assessor. See MEES and commercial EPCs.

The green lease clauses to ask for are the same as for offices: see solar panels for offices for the full landlord and tenant guide.

Solar canopies over the customer car park

A supermarket or retail park car park is often bigger than the roof. Since 21 December 2023, England's permitted development rules have allowed solar canopies over non-domestic off-street parking (Class OA), within limits:

• No part more than 4 metres above ground. That can be tight for delivery vans or high-sided vehicles.
• No part within 10 metres of the curtilage of a house or block of flats.
• Not within the curtilage of a listed building or on a scheduled monument.
• Prior approval from the council on siting, design and appearance, especially glare, before work starts.

Canopies also give customers shade and shelter, and they're the natural home for EV chargers. Anything outside the limits needs a full planning application. The details, structures and costs are on our solar carports page.

EV charging for customers: what the grant does and doesn't cover

Destination charging in a store car park can bring customers in and keep them longer. But the main grant doesn't pay for it.

• The Workplace Charging Scheme is for staff and fleet bays. GOV.UK says that for a business, grant-funded chargepoints "can only be used by your staff/fleets", and parking "solely for customer use" isn't eligible. The Workplace Charging Scheme pays up to £500 per socket (it went up from £350 on 1 April 2026), capped at 75% of costs, for up to 40 sockets across all your sites. That's up to £20,000. Funding runs until 31 March 2027, its final year.
• Charities are different. GOV.UK says public authorities, charities and small accommodation businesses face no restriction on who uses the parking, so a charity-run shop or garden centre can put grant-funded chargepoints where customers park.
• Public chargepoint rules. A chargepoint in a car park open to the public, including a supermarket car park, counts as a public charge point under the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023. New public chargepoints of 8kW and above must take contactless payment, prices must be shown in pence per kWh, and there must be a free, staffed 24/7 helpline. Operators' rapid chargepoints (50kW and above) must be available 99% of the time.
• Tax: the 100% first-year allowance for EV chargepoint equipment has been extended to 31 March 2027 for companies and 5 April 2027 for unincorporated businesses.
• Rates: in England, plant that stores, transforms or transmits power to EV chargepoints is excluded from rateable value until 1 April 2035.

Many retailers host customer charging through a chargepoint operator that funds and runs the units. Compare that with owning them yourself. See business EV charging and the Workplace Charging Scheme guide.

Tax allowances and business rates for retail solar

HMRC's manual is explicit: "all capital expenditure on the provision of solar panels is specifically designated as special rate" (CA22335). So the AIA is the big lever. A company spending £150,000 on a rooftop system can usually deduct the whole lot from that year's profits, as long as the AIA hasn't been used up on other kit.

Business rates: In England, plant and machinery used to generate or store power from on-site renewables (solar included, and batteries where the power stored is mainly or exclusively renewable) is excluded from rateable value until 1 April 2035. Wales (from 1 April 2024) and Scotland (from 1 April 2023) have equivalent exemptions running to 2035. Adding panels to your roof shouldn't raise your rates bill.

Export income: The Smart Export Guarantee pays for solar you export, on systems up to 5MW in Great Britain. Suppliers set their own rates; the law only says the rate must be above zero, so shop around.

See solar panels capital allowances for the detail, and check with your accountant.

Installing on a trading store: hours, safety and the grid

• Keep trading. Most retail installs run around opening hours, with roof work from outside the shop floor and the switch-over done early morning or after close. Agree the programme, deliveries and crane days in the contract.
• Fragile roofs and rooflights. Edge protection, rooflight covers and safe access belong in the installer's method statement.
• Fire strategy and insurance. Tell your insurer before you sign, and ask where DC cabling, isolators and inverters will go, especially near plant rooms and stock areas.
• Asbestos. Older stores may have asbestos in roof sheets or plant rooms. The installer needs your asbestos register before designing fixings and cable routes.
• Grid approval. Larger systems need the distribution network operator's approval before they connect, usually through a G99 application. Apply early: it can take weeks or months.
• Monitoring. Ask for generation and consumption monitoring for each store, so faults show up in days, not at the end of the year.

What to prepare, and how to get your store quoted

Before you ask for quotes

• Twelve months of electricity bills, or half-hourly data.
• Your trading hours, and your refrigeration and HVAC plant.
• Who owns the roof and car park, and the lease terms for alterations.
• Roof age and condition, and any refit or re-roofing plans.
• Your plans for EV charging, heat pumps or longer opening hours.

Questions to ask every installer

• How much of the output will the store use, modelled on our own data, and how much will be exported?
• Does the roof need a structural survey, and what does it cover?
• How will you work around trading hours and keep customers safe?
• Who handles the DNO application, and what happens if export is limited?
• Are you MCS certified (needed for the Smart Export Guarantee on systems up to 50kW), and what are the warranties?

1. Send us the basics using the form. It takes two minutes.
2. One suitable installer contacts you to arrange a survey. You won't be passed round a list.
3. Survey and quote, with a load model built on your own data.
4. Landlord consent, DNO approval and any prior approval for canopies.
5. Install around trading, commission and register for export payments.

Running a chain? One survey programme across your estate usually gets a better price per kW than store by store. See commercial solar panels.