Solar for commercial glasshouses, nurseries and garden centres
AHDB's GrowSave project, run with NFU Energy, has helped growers save energy for over ten years. It says that as a proportion of business variable costs, "energy costs can be considerable, particularly in protected cropping" (AHDB GrowSave, GrowSave). Solar is one option among several it covers, alongside screens, heat storage and alternative heat.
| Site | Electric loads in daylight | Where panels usually go |
|---|---|---|
| Glasshouse grower | Fans, pumps, irrigation, supplementary lighting, electric heating | Packhouse, boiler house, nearby ground |
| Nursery or plant producer | Irrigation pumps, potting lines, cold stores, polytunnel ventilation | Sheds and workshops, ground |
| Packhouse and cold store | Refrigeration, grading and packing lines | The packhouse roof itself |
| Garden centre | Café, chillers, lighting, tills, heated sales areas | Retail roofs, car park canopies |
Heating, lighting and irrigation loads
- Heating. Often a large share of a grower's energy. Solar only reduces it where heating is electric, such as a heat pump
- Supplementary lighting. Mostly used in the darker months and hours, when panels produce least, so check the timing
- Irrigation and pumps. Busiest in sunny, dry weather: a good match for solar output
- Fans and ventilation. Run hardest on hot, bright days, again when panels produce
- Cold stores and packing. Run through the day and most of the year
Find out where solar fits on your holding: book a free site survey.
Book a free site surveyGlass roofs: why panels usually go elsewhere
Panels on a glasshouse take light from the crop beneath, and glasshouse structures are designed for glazing, not for the extra load and fixings of a solar array. A few specialist designs exist, but for most growers the practical answer is to use the solid roofs on the site, or ground beside it, and feed the glasshouse from there. The survey looks at every roof on the holding, the ground and the electricity supply before suggesting where panels should go.
Ground-mounted arrays and nearby roofs
Many nurseries have spare ground, headlands or hardstanding, and large shed roofs. A ground-mounted array can be sized to the site's use without shading the crop, and a shed or packhouse roof can carry a large array cheaply. Fibre cement sheds may need checking: see asbestos cement roofs. Garden centres can add car park canopies.
Grants for growers and paying for it
Growers who farm can sometimes use farm and rural business grants; our farm solar grants page lists what was open in each nation when we checked. A business that buys the system can usually claim capital allowances. VAT is at the standard rate on business premises (HMRC Notice 708/6), reclaimable by a VAT-registered business. See also solar for farms and solar for retail.
Sources
AHDB's GrowSave page, the GrowSave site and HMRC Notice 708/6 were read on 2 November 2026.