“Commercial solar funding” in 2026 means finance, not grants: the four nations compared
Published 2026-09-26 · 6 minute read · By Commercial Solar Finance editorial team
The research question behind the search: is there any commercial solar funding left, and does it depend on where the building is? Short answer: the grants have gone, the reliefs remain, and three of them differ by nation. Checked 26 September 2026.
Type “commercial solar funding” into a search engine and most of the results still promise grants. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme closed to new applications in November 2024 and DESNZ calls Phase 4 its final phase; private-sector capital grants were always regional and small. What is left is a finance decision with reliefs layered on top — the six routes on our commercial solar funding and financing page, and the layers below.
Layer one: capital allowances are UK-wide
Solar is special-rate plant everywhere in the UK (HMRC CA22335). The Annual Investment Allowance relieves the first £1m of qualifying spend in year one; the 50% first-year allowance covers special-rate spend above that for companies; the balance is written down at 6%. Nothing about this changes at a border.
Layer two: business rates differ by nation
| Nation | Renewables plant in the rating valuation | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| England | Excluded 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2035 | SI 2022/405 |
| Scotland | Excluded 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2035 (plant only) | SSI 2023/32 |
| Wales | Separate rules — confirm with the Valuation Office Agency | SI 2022/405 amends the England regulations only |
| Northern Ireland | Separate rating system | Land & Property Services |
Layer three: loans for public bodies exist only in Scotland and Wales
Salix delivers grants in England (PSDS — closed to new applications in November 2024 and now in delivery only — and the Low Carbon Skills Fund) but loans in Scotland (the zero-interest Scottish Public Sector Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme and the Scotland Recycling Fund, both open) and Wales (the Wales Funding Programme, open, and the £20m Digarbon scheme for tertiary education). An English NHS trust or council funds solar from its capital programme, a lease or a power purchase agreement; a Scottish or Welsh one can borrow at 0%.
Layer four: SME loans, with a catch
Business Energy Scotland's SME Loan is interest-free, £1,000–£130,000 over eight years with cashback for efficiency measures — and its page states it is not accepting new applications for solar PV projects. The Development Bank of Wales runs a Green Business Loan Scheme whose term is linked to project payback. England's equivalents are the regional and combined-authority funds, open intermittently. None of these is a grant; each is a cheaper way to do the same finance.
Layer five: planning and the grid
Scotland removed the kilowatt cap on non-domestic rooftop permitted development in May 2024 (Class 6J); England's rules differ and conservation areas bite on road-facing elevations. Distribution network operators also change at the border and inside it — the grid supply group for a postcode decides whom you pre-apply to for G99. The regional pages carry the detail: commercial solar finance in Scotland and commercial solar finance in Wales.
Read next: the six commercial solar financing routes compared, and public sector solar funding for what replaced PSDS.
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