Do solar panels work financially for schools during the holidays?

Size school solar against electricity use during closures as well as teaching days. Roof rights and the responsible body's approval route matter before choosing capital funding or a power purchase agreement. DfE describes a pilot for up to 150 schools and colleges [S1], rather than universal access. Compare the holiday scenarios below before committing. Checked October 2026.

Last checked 17 October 2026

What happens to school solar during the summer holidays?

Start with your closure calendar and meter records. Ask for a model that separates teaching days, weekends, holiday clubs and closed periods. A yearly electricity total cannot show whether your classrooms use power when the proposed panels generate it. The worked example below tests that mismatch explicitly.

A kilowatt (kW) measures power; a kilowatt-hour (kWh) measures energy. Request a solar generation profile and match each interval against school consumption. Mark any assumed kitchen, pool, server or community-hall loads. Do not count a holiday club unless its opening pattern is supported by bookings or an operating plan.

Treat a battery as another investment case. Ask how much surplus it can move into useful school demand, allowing for losses and replacement costs. Storage does not itself create consumption during a long closure. Check the distribution network operator (DNO), which manages your local electricity network, before assuming unrestricted export. Network export controls may constrain what leaves the site [S5].

Use the business solar hub for the wider decision and self-consumption guide for the demand calculation.

Who owns the roof and who can approve the project?

Put the school, electricity account holder, freeholder and proposed contracting body on a single project sheet. Do not assume they are the same organisation. East Sussex’s published process illustrates why: freeholder consent is required for school-funded installations, while third-party projects also involve a roof lease and electricity purchase agreement [S3]. Your own responsible body must confirm its process.

For an academy, involve the trust finance and estates teams before accepting terms. The current academy handbook requires prior DfE consent for relevant borrowing and for granting leasehold interests in buildings. The applicable classification and approvals depend on the transaction [S2]. Check with your accountant and solicitor rather than treating a sales description as the accounting treatment.

For a maintained school, ask the authority and any other landowner who signs, procures and carries the ongoing liability. Include roof repairs, insurance, access, end-of-contract removal and any change of school status in the decision pack. A headteacher’s support should begin that process, not stand in for property approval.

Which DfE and public-sector funding routes are available?

DfE’s published PPA guidance describes a selected pilot, with participating schools contacted by the department. It also describes a pause on new approvals while standard PPA and lease templates are tested. The page expects templates in autumn 2026; that expectation alone does not establish that approvals have resumed [S1]. Confirm the current position with DfE before setting your procurement programme.

Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 4 is a heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency programme. Its published page says applications closed in November 2024 [S4]. Do not present an award list as an open solar grant application window. Establish whether a proposed solar element belongs within an eligible wider project.

Read public-sector solar funding and school solar and charging funding. Keep charger funding and solar funding as separate lines in your budget.

What could a school earn or retain under each funding model?

The following is an illustration, not a quote. Every input is an assumption, not a measured school result, market price or yield forecast. All figures exclude VAT, grants, tax, financing, degradation and replacements. Additional roof, connection and access work would lengthen payback.

For the mid case, use = 45,000 × 60% = 27,000 kWh; export = 18,000 kWh. Self funded annual net benefit = (27,000 × £0.25) + (18,000 × £0.05) − £600 = £7,050. Simple return on investment (ROI) = £7,050 ÷ £45,000 × 100 = 15.7%; payback = £45,000 ÷ £7,050 = 6.4 years.

Fully funded mid benefit = 27,000 × (£0.25 − £0.15) + £500 = £3,200. Only £500 is rent income; the rest is reduced electricity expenditure. Rent is hypothetical and may not be offered alongside a PPA. Part funded mid capital is £22,500 and benefit is £7,050 ÷ 2. Its equal ROI follows from the assumed equal split. At the full capital range and mid use, self funded payback is 5.7–7.8 years and ROI is 12.8–17.6%.

Replace assumed prices using your invoices and business electricity data. Use commercial solar cost data as context, then obtain a school-specific scope.

How should a school compare PPA offers and prepare installation?

Request the draft electricity price, annual escalation, term, minimum purchase obligations and export ownership. Test what happens when holiday demand falls below the model. Ask who pays to remove and reinstall panels for roof repairs, and what happens at expiry or early closure. Have your solicitor review the entire arrangement.

Compare the PPA and purchase routes using the same demand file. Ask bidders to price separate access, safeguarding, asbestos assessment and roof-work allowances. Agree which activities can happen while pupils are present and which need a closure window. Require a handover pack with drawings, isolation instructions, warranties, monitoring access and named fault-reporting responsibilities.

What should you do next?

Gather meter data, roof records, ownership documents and your approval route. Complete the site check and get matched with an installer that covers your area.

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