Commercial solar installers in Ashford

Key facts

Where businesses are in Ashford

• Orbital Park: Next to junction 10 of the M20, Orbital Park is one of the borough's main business parks and a key strategic employment site, with office space, industrial units and storage and distribution buildings. The council says 8.65 hectares of land there is available for development.
• Eureka Business Park: An office park just off junction 9 of the M20, developed by Quadrant Estates, with more than 600,000 sq ft of built business space and consent for a further 1,100,000 sq ft.
• Carlton Road Business Park: An industrial development next to junction 9 of the M20 with 50,046 sq ft of warehouse and industrial space in 28 units, which opened in early 2019.

Large employers and sectors with sites here include:

• Food manufacturing (Premier Foods): Premier Foods' Ashford site, which opened in 1957, makes 300 products across 18 production lines for brands including Batchelors, Angel Delight, Bird's, Bisto and Paxo, and the council calls the company a long-standing employer in the town.
• Border and freight services (Sevington Inland Border Facility): The Sevington Inland Border Facility is where goods vehicles using the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel or Holyhead start or end transit movements and are called for SPS checks, and the Planning Inspectorate has approved the Crown development application from DfT, Defra and HMRC to keep it as an Inland Border Facility and Border Control Post operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Large, simple roofs on distribution sheds and modern industrial units are usually the quickest and cheapest to fit. Older mill, factory and workshop buildings can work well too, but often need a structural survey first, and roofs from before 2000 may contain asbestos cement: see asbestos roofs.

Grid connection

Ashford is served by UK Power Networks (South Eastern Power Networks licence area). Almost every commercial system needs G99 approval from the network operator before it is switched on, and the question is usually how much the local network can take back. Where export is limited, a G100 export limitation scheme can let a larger array connect. See G99 and DNO applications.

Planning in Ashford

Ashford follows the national planning rules for England, decided by Ashford council. Rooftop solar on most non-domestic buildings is permitted development, within height and edge limits, and systems above 50 kW need a prior approval application covering design and glare.

Points that come up locally:

• Ashford borough has 43 conservation areas, and the council adopted a new appraisal, management plan and revised boundary for the Ashford Town Centre Conservation Area on 21 September 2016, so check whether a town centre roof is inside it before planning panels.

Our guides on listed buildings and conservation areas explain what these mean for a solar project.

What a business roof in Ashford could generate

Modelled with PVGIS for the town centre, a south-facing roof at 30 degrees produces about 1,114 kWh per kWp a year.

Illustrative, not a quote: the same sums as our commercial solar calculator. A company paying corporation tax can usually shorten the payback with capital allowances.

Funding and support

We found no council or regional grant for business solar open in Ashford at the time of writing (November 2026). National reliefs still apply, such as capital allowances and, in England, the business rates exemption for onsite renewables: see grants and reliefs in England.

Solar across Ashford

At the end of 2025, Ashford had 4,795 solar PV installations with 49.5 MW of capacity, up 37% since 2020, according to government figures. The Ashford page has the full local figures and how they compare.

Nearby towns

• Folkestone, about 14 miles away
• Sittingbourne, about 14 miles away
• Maidstone, about 17 miles away
• Dover, about 19 miles away

Sources

• ons.gov.uk: census2021
• ons.gov.uk: datadownload.xlsx
• en.wikipedia.org: Ashford, Kent
• ashfordfor.com: industrial space in ashford
• ashfordfor.com: quadrant estates2
• ashfordfor.com: ashford borough council meet with premier foods to
• ashford.gov.uk: sevington inland border facility planning consent
• gov.uk: sevington inland border facility
• gov.uk: enterprise zones
• gov.uk: maps of thames freeport tax sites
• gov.uk: freeports
• gov.uk: investment zones in england
• ashford.gov.uk: conservation areas
• Yield: PVGIS 5.3 (European Commission Joint Research Centre), SARAH3 data, 14% system losses, for the town centre, modelled 4 November 2026.
• Council area figures: DESNZ, renewable electricity by local authority 2014 to 2025.