A new round of grant funding under the Improving Farm Productivity Grant was announced this month on Tuesday the 12th December 2023. The launch date of the grant has not yet been confirmed, but DEFRA say that it will open in a few weeks’ time. Once the grant application is open, it will remain open for this round until September 2024

Early indications are that you can claim up to 25% of the cost of a solar installation, with a minimum grant available of £15,000 (25% of £60,000) and a maximum grant of £100,000 per applicant business. To get the maximum benefit of the grant, a solar system needs to cost between £60,000 to £400,000 and can also include battery storage.

If you want to apply for both a Solar grant and a Farm Productivity grant, you must submit 2 separate applications. The maximum grant across all submitted applications is £500,000 in total, per applicant business.

You need to be able to fund the remaining project costs yourself, but you can use loans, overdrafts, and certain other monies. For example, money received through the Basic Payment Scheme or agri-environment schemes such as the Countryside Stewardship scheme.

You cannot use other public money, such as grant funding from local authorities, towards the project costs. You also cannot use this grant to carry out capital works which you need to do as part of other agreements.

The following qualifies for the grant payment

· Solar PV panels

· Solar batteries

· Inverters

· Utility meters

· Electrical grid connections

· Power diverters

Panels can only be installed on farm building rooftops and floating solar on irrigation reservoirs.

Click here for the Gov.UK link

Solar panels generate clean energy, lowering reliance on traditional power sources and offering long-term financial savings.

Titan Eco specialises in installing commercial solar systems for famers, with a range of solutions available. As end-to-end specialists we are with you from the start to the finish, including:

1. Initial rooftop or floating solar assessment to see what can be installed

2. Look at your fuel bills and devise a solution that fits your requirement and maximises your ROI

3. Help with any grant funding applications

4. Undertake the full installation using our in-house teams of installers

5. Assist in setting you up to be paid for any exported power with GoodEnergy or Drax

6. Assist in registering your installation to receive REGO payments

Check out some of our recent case studies here https://titaneco.co.uk/case-studies/commercial/

And dont forget that solar panels are also qualifying assets under the 50% First Year Allowance (from 1st of April 2023 to 31st March 2026) which means you can claim 50% of the cost of the panels against your profits in year 1 and then 6% each year until the asset is fully written down.

If you are interested in commercial solar PV please get in touch at [email protected]