Free solar panels for schools: is it real?

"Free solar panels for schools" is one of the most-searched phrases in this whole sector, and it deserves an honest answer rather than a marketing one. The blunt truth is that panels are rarely free in the sense of a lorry turning up and leaving them for nothing. What is genuinely real — and what most schools actually get — is zero net cost: the school pays little or nothing out of its own capital, because the project is funded, and the electricity saving covers the rest. There are five routes to that outcome, and the right one depends on whether you are a maintained school, an academy, a trust or an independent, and on whether you have capital or borrowing headroom to protect.

1. The Great British Energy schools programme

The publicly-owned Great British Energy is funding rooftop solar across England’s state schools, prioritising areas of higher deprivation first. Where a school is selected, the capital for the array is provided directly, so there is little or no upfront cost. This is the closest thing to genuinely "free" solar — but the rollout is phased and centrally allocated, so it will not reach every school in the first waves. The practical move is to be ready with a costed proposal for when a wave opens.

2. The interest-free Salix Decarbonisation Loan

For most maintained schools and academies, the workhorse route is the Salix Decarbonisation Loan: interest-free finance for public-sector energy projects, repaid from the savings the panels create. Because the repayment is designed to be smaller than the annual energy saving, the school is cash-flow positive from year one — better off in cash terms every year the loan runs — and once it is repaid the full saving flows back into the budget. No capital leaves teaching, and there is no interest. This is why so many school projects that look "free" are in fact Salix-funded.

3. PSDS — up to a 100% grant

The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) can grant-fund up to 100% of eligible cost for public-sector buildings, including schools and FE colleges. It is competitive and administered by Salix on behalf of government, and the strongest applications pair solar with heat decarbonisation. Where a school wins PSDS funding, the capital genuinely is covered by grant.

4. The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) for academies

Academies, sixth-form colleges and voluntary-aided schools can bid into the annual Condition Improvement Fund. Solar qualifies under CIF’s condition and energy-efficiency criteria, and bids score best when the array is packaged with a roof refurbishment — a natural fit, since a re-roof and a solar install share scaffolding and downtime. A successful CIF bid funds a large share, sometimes all, of the project.

5. A solar PPA — genuinely zero upfront

If you want the bill saving without spending capital or touching your borrowing headroom, a power purchase agreement (PPA) is the true zero-upfront route. A third party funds, owns and maintains the system on your roof, and the school simply buys the electricity it generates at a price below the grid rate. No capital, no loan on the balance sheet, no maintenance liability during the term. It is a particularly good fit for trusts protecting their capital for teaching priorities — you can read the specifics of the school and academy PPA model at solarpowerpurchaseagreements.co.uk.

So what does "free" honestly mean?

Put plainly: for the vast majority of UK schools, "free solar panels" means zero net cost — the panels are funded (by GB Energy, Salix, PSDS, CIF or a PPA), and the electricity they generate pays for whatever is left. The one thing we will never do is call a project "free" to win it and leave you with a surprise. We model your actual funding route and your actual cost and payback from at least twelve months of your half-hourly meter data, so governors see the real numbers, not a headline. If your school could be a fit for any of these five routes, the sensible first step is a free desk feasibility.