Commercial solar installers in Carrickfergus

Key facts

Where businesses are in Carrickfergus

• Kilroot Business Park: A 60 acre park on Larne Road with about 750,000 sq ft of industrial and business space, roughly midway between Belfast Harbour and the Port of Larne; it has its own 1MW solar installation and land for design-and-build units of 100,000 sq ft or more.
• Trooperslane Industrial Estate: Industrial estate on the Belfast Road where Invest NI offers an 8 acre unserviced site for lease to its client companies.
• Carrickfergus Enterprise (Meadowbank Road): Business park at 8 Meadowbank Road with industrial units of 500 to 2,000 sq ft, workshops and micro offices across three phases, let on one month's notice.

Large employers and sectors with sites here include:

• Aluminium die casting (Ryobi): Ryobi Aluminium Casting (UK), on Meadowbank Road, was established in 1990 as part of the Ryobi Group and makes high-pressure die cast aluminium components for major manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers, with over 500 employees and annual turnover of £100 million.
• Salt mining (Irish Salt Mining): Irish Salt Mining at Kilroot, about 3 miles north east of Carrickfergus, produces around 500,000 tonnes of de-icing rock salt a year with 59 full-time staff.

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

Carrickfergus is served by NIE Networks, which runs the network across Northern Ireland. Systems connect under the G98/NI and G99/NI process, and there is no Smart Export Guarantee in Northern Ireland, so sizing the system to the power you use on site matters even more. See G99 and DNO applications.

Planning in Carrickfergus

Planning in Carrickfergus is decided by Mid and East Antrim council. Rooftop solar on many non-domestic buildings can go ahead without an application within the Northern Ireland limits; listed buildings need consent.

Points that come up locally:

• The Carrickfergus Conservation Area, designated in 1991, covers the historic core within the town walls, the castle and the harbour, and has its own design guide, so check whether a building is inside it before planning roof panels.

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

What a business roof in Carrickfergus could generate

Modelled with PVGIS for the town centre, a south-facing roof at 30 degrees produces about 914 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

• NISEP Commercial Energy Saving Scheme (2026/27): A Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme grant of 20% for commercial and non-domestic properties anywhere in Northern Ireland, with the applicant paying 80%. Measures include solar PV (grant capped at £30,000), boiler replacement, intelligent heating controls and lighting. Applications go to Power NI. The list of schemes covers April 2026 to March 2027. Check the scheme's own page for eligibility and closing dates.

National reliefs apply too: see grants and reliefs in Northern Ireland.

Solar across Mid and East Antrim

At the end of 2025, Mid and East Antrim had 2,698 solar PV installations with 28.1 MW of capacity, up 113% since 2020, according to government figures. The Mid and East Antrim page has the full local figures and how they compare.

Nearby towns

• Bangor, about 7 miles away
• Larne, about 9 miles away
• Newtownards, about 9 miles away
• Antrim, about 16 miles away

Sources

• nisra.gov.uk: census 2021 person and household estimates for settlements
• nisra.gov.uk: census 2021 commissioned table ct0046.xlsx
• kilroot.com
• commercialpropertyfinder.nibusinessinfo.co.uk: trooperslane industrial estate belfast road carrickfergus
• commercialpropertyfinder.nibusinessinfo.co.uk: carrickfergus enterprise 8 meadowbank road carrickfergus
• adsgroup.org.uk: ryobi aluminium casting uk ltd 2
• irishsaltmining.com: about us
• economy-ni.gov.uk: northern ireland enhanced investment zone
• nienetworks.co.uk
• midandeastantrim.gov.uk: conservation areas
• infrastructure-ni.gov.uk: conservation area guides z list
• uregni.gov.uk: NISEP List of Schemes 2026 27 updated
• 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.