How much do solar panels for schools cost?
Costs by system size and school type, from the one official dataset, with every assumption stated. Updated 7 October 2026.
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How much do solar panels cost for a school? Using the one official dataset and a stated planning range, a 50 kW primary-school array comes to roughly £50,000–£63,000 and a 100 kW secondary-school array roughly £100,000–£126,000 — often less once real quotes come in. What matters more to a governing body is what the array is worth each year and how the school pays for it, and both are set out below with every assumption stated.
Hoping the panels will be funded for you? Read how schools actually get Great British Energy solar before you budget for it — government selects the schools, and there is no Salix loan for English schools.
Where the cost figures come from
There is no official price list for school-sized arrays. The nearest thing is the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s solar PV cost statistics, built from MCS-certified installations. For 2025/26 (published 28 May 2026) they put the median installed cost of a 10–50 kW system at £1,262 per kW, covering equipment, installation and connection to the electricity supply, including VAT where applicable. DESNZ publishes no band above 50 kW, and larger arrays usually come in lower per kW, so this guide uses £1,000–£1,260 per kW as a planning range for school arrays: the upper end is the DESNZ median, and the lower end is our assumption for larger systems. Treat it as a sense-check for quotes, not a price.
| System size | Typical school | Cost at £1,000–£1,260 per kW |
|---|---|---|
| 30 kW | Small primary | £30,000–£37,800 |
| 50 kW | Primary | £50,000–£63,000 |
| 80 kW | Large primary or small secondary | £80,000–£100,800 |
| 100 kW | Secondary | £100,000–£126,000 |
| 150 kW | Large secondary or special school | £150,000–£189,000 |
| 200 kW | Large secondary or sixth-form college | £200,000–£252,000 |
What makes a school quote move — the hidden costs
Two schools with identical roof areas can receive very different quotes. The drivers are almost always structural and electrical, not the panels:
- Asbestos (ACM) surveys and roof condition. Many pre-2000 school buildings contain asbestos, and many flat roofs are near end-of-life. Where a roof needs replacing anyway, doing the re-roof and the solar together usually makes sense — and a failing roof, not the solar, is what can carry a Condition Improvement Fund bid.
- Electrical supply. Many older primaries run a 60–100 A single-phase supply, which caps practical PV well below what a large roof could hold until a three-phase upgrade is made. Get that upgrade priced in the feasibility study.
- Grid connection. G98 covers up to 16 A per phase (3.68 kW per phase); anything larger needs a G99 application, and the distribution network operator’s study and any reinforcement can add cost and, more often, time.
- Access and scheduling. Major works happen in the school holidays, by crews with the checks KCSIE requires. That should be built into the quoted price, not added later.
What a school array is worth each year
A kilowatt-hour the school uses itself is worth what it would otherwise pay for grid electricity: the DESNZ average non-domestic price was 24.14p per kWh in the first quarter of 2026, including Climate Change Levy. A kilowatt-hour it exports earns only the Smart Export Guarantee rate, which each supplier sets and which only has to be above zero; this guide assumes 5p per kWh. So the share used on site decides the value. A term-time-only school is closed through the six-week summer holiday — the highest-generation period of the year — and at weekends, so a non-boarding school uses perhaps half of what a roof-sized array generates unless it adds a battery. Boarding and special schools, with year-round loads, use far more.
Generation depends on where the school is and how the panels sit. For a 10° south-facing array — typical of ballasted panels on a flat school roof — PVGIS gives about 920 kWh per kW a year in London, 875 in Birmingham and 807 in Manchester. The table below uses 875.
Running costs over the life of the panels
Panels lose a little output each year: a widely cited review of 1,920 reported rates found a median degradation of 0.5% a year (Jordan and Kurtz, Progress in Photovoltaics, 2013). Inverters wear out sooner than panels, so expect to replace them at least once over a 25-year life, and budget for monitoring, occasional cleaning on low-pitch roofs, and insurance. Ask every installer to price the inverter replacement and the monitoring contract alongside the install, so you compare whole-life costs rather than headline prices.
How the funding route changes the real cost
- Paying from capital — the school or trust keeps every kilowatt-hour it saves, so it is usually the best value over the panels’ life.
- A Condition Improvement Fund bid — for stand-alone academies, smaller trusts, sixth-form colleges and qualifying voluntary aided schools, built on genuine condition need such as a failing roof; CIF treats energy-efficiency-only works as low priority.
- A power purchase agreement — no upfront cost, but the school buys the electricity at an agreed price, and from 15 July 2026 the DfE’s PPA and land-lease templates are mandatory.
- Great British Energy — free to the school, but only if government selects it.
There is no Salix loan for English schools, and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme closed to new applications in November 2024. How much of the VAT a school recovers depends on its status — see how VAT works on school solar — and every route is compared in our guide to solar panels for schools grants.
The installation process, step by step
- Desk feasibility from twelve months of half-hourly meter data, including a holiday period, and the roof drawings.
- Structural and asbestos survey, then a fixed, itemised quote.
- G99 application straight after the survey, plus any prior approval for an array over 50 kW or Listed Building Consent — see planning permission for school solar panels.
- Install in the holidays, typically 2–6 weeks for a primary and 4–10 weeks for a secondary.
- Commissioning and handover, including the export meter, SEG registration and the monitoring.
Cost against your current bill
The comparison that matters to a governing body is cost against the grid. Spread over 25 years of generation at 875 kWh per kW, with 0.5% a year degradation, £1,000–£1,260 per kW works out at roughly 5–6p per kWh before running costs — against 24.14p for the average non-domestic grid unit in early 2026. That gap, applied to the share of generation the school uses itself, is the saving. For how long it takes to pay back, see how long school solar panels take to pay back.
School solar cost table (2026)
Modelled cost, value and simple payback by school type, worked from the assumptions above: 875 kWh per kW a year, 24.14p per kWh for electricity used on site, 5p per kWh for export, and the planning range of £1,000–£1,260 per kW. Your own meter data will move these numbers.
| School type | Typical system | Cost at £1,000–£1,260/kW | Assumed on-site use | Modelled annual value | Simple payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary school | 30–80 kW | £30,000–£100,800 | 55% | £4,100–£10,900 | 7.5–9.5 years |
| Secondary school | 100–300 kW | £100,000–£378,000 | 70% | £16,100–£48,300 | 6–8 years |
| Sixth-form college | 150–400 kW | £150,000–£504,000 | 75% | £25,400–£67,700 | 6–7.5 years |
| Special school | 40–150 kW | £40,000–£189,000 | 80% | £7,100–£26,700 | 5.5–7 years |
| Independent boarding school | 100–500 kW | £100,000–£630,000 | 85% | £18,600–£93,100 | 5.5–7 years |
Payback is capital cost divided by first-year value, paid from capital; it ignores degradation, electricity price changes and running costs. A battery raises the on-site share for a term-time school but adds cost not included here.
Cost ranges by sub-vertical
Primary Schools
- Typical system
- 30-80 kW
- Project value
- £30,000–£100,800
- Payback
- 7.5–9.5 years
- Annual generation
- 27,000-73,000 kWh
Secondary Schools
- Typical system
- 100-300 kW
- Project value
- £100,000–£378,000
- Payback
- 6–8 years
- Annual generation
- 92,000-275,000 kWh
Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs)
- Typical system
- 200 kW-1.5 MW (across multiple sites)
- Project value
- the sum of each site at £1,000–£1,260/kW
- Payback
- depends on the mix of schools
- Annual generation
- about 875 kWh per kW, site by site
Sixth Form Colleges
- Typical system
- 150-400 kW
- Project value
- £150,000–£504,000
- Payback
- 6–7.5 years
- Annual generation
- 138,000-370,000 kWh
Special Schools
- Typical system
- 40-150 kW
- Project value
- £40,000–£189,000
- Payback
- 5.5–7 years
- Annual generation
- 37,000-138,000 kWh
Independent (Private) Schools
- Typical system
- 100-500 kW
- Project value
- £100,000–£630,000
- Payback
- 5.5–7 years
- Annual generation
- 92,000-460,000 kWh
Cost questions
How much do solar panels for a school cost in the UK?
There is no official price list for school-sized arrays. The DESNZ cost statistics for 2025/26 put the median installed cost of a 10–50 kW system at £1,262 per kW, including VAT where applicable, and DESNZ publishes no band above 50 kW. Using a planning range of £1,000–£1,260 per kW, a 50 kW primary array comes to roughly £50,000–£63,000 and a 100 kW secondary array roughly £100,000–£126,000 — often less once real quotes arrive. See the school solar cost guide for worked examples.
What is Salix Finance, and does it lend to schools?
Salix administers public-sector decarbonisation funding on behalf of government. In England its current schemes are grants — PSDS projects still being delivered, and housing schemes — and it runs no loan scheme for schools. In Scotland it runs zero-interest public-sector loans, including the Scotland Recycling Fund, which lists schools among eligible applicants through their local authority or governing body. In Wales it runs the Wales Funding Programme, which lends to public bodies at a fixed rate. See Salix funding for schools.
How long does school solar take to pay back?
Paid from capital, the modelled simple payback is about 6–8 years for a secondary school and 7.5–9.5 years for a term-time primary without a battery, on the assumptions in the table above: 875 kWh per kW a year, 24.14p per kWh for electricity used on site, 5p for export and £1,000–£1,260 per kW. Boarding and special schools, which use more of their generation, come in faster.
Do schools pay VAT on solar panels?
Usually yes, at the standard 20% rate, because a teaching block is a non-domestic building. Academies, multi-academy trusts and local authorities can reclaim VAT on non-business activity using form VAT126. The 0% rate for energy-saving materials covers residential accommodation and buildings used solely for a relevant charitable purpose, so check the position for your school before assuming it applies.
How long do school solar panels last?
Panels typically come with a 25-year output warranty and lose a little output each year — a widely cited review of 1,920 reported rates found a median of 0.5% a year. Inverters wear out sooner, so expect to replace them at least once over the life of the panels, and ask for that cost in the quote.
Is there a grant to pay for school solar panels in 2026?
Not one an English school can apply to. PSDS closed to new applications in November 2024, there is no Salix loan for English schools, and Great British Energy selects the schools it funds. Eligible academies, smaller trusts, sixth-form colleges and some voluntary aided schools can bid into the Condition Improvement Fund, but it pays for condition work such as a failing roof, not solar on its own.