The one number that decides it
Not the price of the system, and not the size of the roof. It's self-consumption — the share of what you generate that you use on site instead of exporting. A unit you use yourself saves the full price you pay for electricity. A unit you export earns the export rate, which in Northern Ireland is 9.64p per kWh for the current tariff year. The gap between those two numbers is the whole business case.
Which is why an office that runs 9-to-5, a factory on day shift, a cold store or a hotel kitchen tends to stack up well, and a building that's mostly empty in daylight does not. Get the array size wrong upwards and you simply sell your own electricity cheaply.
Start with half-hourly data, not the roof
Any commercial meter above a certain size produces half-hourly consumption data, and your supplier will give it to you. That data is the honest basis for a design: it shows exactly when you draw power and how much, which lets us model an array against your real load profile rather than an annual total.
If someone quotes a commercial system without asking for that data, they're sizing from roof area and hoping. Ask what self-consumption percentage the design assumes, and what happens to the payback if it's ten points lower.
What a serious quote should show you
- Modelled annual generation for your roof — pitch, orientation and shading, not a per-kWp rule of thumb.
- The self-consumption assumption, stated plainly, and what it's based on.
- Savings split between electricity you stop buying and export you get paid for — they are not the same money.
- The NIE Networks connection route and any export limit.
- Whether the roof needs work first, and who carries that cost.
- A fixed price, not an estimate that grows on install day.
The 20% you may be leaving on the table
Power NI administers the Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme (NISEP): 20% funding on qualifying installations across six technologies, solar PV included, with the 2026/27 scheme open now. Funds are limited and go first come, first served.
The catch that costs businesses the money: you must hold the grant offer letter before you place the order. Sign a contract first and you've disqualified yourself. Factor it into your timeline from the start — we'll sequence the quote and the order around it.
Alongside that: 0% VAT on the installation until 31 March 2027, and capital allowances worth putting in front of your accountant.
G99: approval before energisation
Commercial systems connect under G99, which means NIE Networks must approve the connection before the system is switched on — unlike a small domestic system, which is simply notified afterwards. It takes time and it can come back with an export limit attached.
On a high-self-consumption site an export limit is often close to irrelevant, because little was going to be exported anyway. But it has to be known before the design is fixed, not discovered afterwards. We prepare, submit and chase the application as part of the job.
Disruption, honestly
Most of the work happens on the roof and doesn't touch your operation. The part that does is the electrical connection, and that gets planned around your quiet hours — early morning, a weekend, a shutdown week. Measured in minutes, not days.
What we do
We survey the roof and the switchgear, model the array against your half-hourly data, handle G99, flag NISEP timing, and give you a fixed written quote with the assumptions on the page where you can challenge them. NICEIC Approved Contractor; everything we install we certify. See commercial solar, farm solar or workplace EV charging — or call 028 9691 8755.
Questions people ask
Is there a grant for commercial solar in Northern Ireland?
Yes. Power NI administers NISEP, funding 20% of qualifying installations including solar PV, with the 2026/27 scheme open. Funds are limited and first come, first served, and you must hold the grant offer letter before placing the order.
What payback should a business expect from solar?
It depends far more on self-consumption than on system price — a site that uses most of its generation on-site pays back considerably faster than one that exports it at 9.64p per kWh. We model it from your half-hourly data rather than quoting an average.
What is self-consumption and why does it matter so much?
It is the share of generated electricity you use on site rather than export. Self-used units save the full retail price you pay; exported units earn the much lower export rate. Maximising self-consumption is the whole point of a good commercial design.
Do commercial solar systems need NIE Networks approval?
Yes — commercial systems connect under G99, which must be approved before the system is energised, and the approval can carry an export limit. We prepare and submit the application and design around whatever comes back.
Will installation disrupt trading?
Rarely in any meaningful way. Roof work happens above you; the electrical connection is scheduled around your quiet hours, so downtime is typically minutes rather than days.