Commercial solar installers in Colwyn Bay

Key facts

Where businesses are in Colwyn Bay

• Quinton Hazell Enterprise Parc, Mochdre: A 5.01 hectare safeguarded employment site on Glan y Wern Road west of Colwyn Bay crematorium, commissioned in 2010, with serviced offices and industrial buildings from 1,000 sq ft workshops up to 100,000 sq ft.
• Mochdre Commerce Park: At the south of Mochdre off Conwy Road; its buildings 3 to 8 account for about 175,000 sq ft, some 40% of Mochdre's industrial floorspace, according to the council's employment sites study.
• Llys Eirias Offices: The only safeguarded employment site in Colwyn Bay itself, 1.37 hectares of offices by the A547 next to Eirias Park and Stadiwm CSM.

Large employers and sectors with sites here include:

• Tourism: Conwy County's 2024 tourism figures put the economic impact at £1.33bn from 9.61 million visitors, supporting 11,688 full time equivalent jobs.
• Visitor attractions (Welsh Mountain Zoo): The Welsh Mountain Zoo above Colwyn Bay, a registered charity on a 37 acre site, began as a family business in 1963 and says it is the oldest zoo in Wales.

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

Colwyn Bay is served by SP Energy Networks (SP Manweb, Merseyside and North Wales 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 Colwyn Bay

Planning in Colwyn Bay is decided by Conwy council under the Welsh rules. Many non-domestic roofs are covered by Welsh permitted development, with conditions, but not within 3 km of an airport or aerodrome or on listed buildings.

Points that come up locally:

• Colwyn Bay Town Centre Conservation Area was designated in 1988, and Conwy's management plan for it was adopted in December 2017, so check whether a building is inside it before planning panels on the town centre's slate roofs.
• In Wales, panels on a non-domestic building are usually permitted development if they project no more than 200mm from the roof or wall (1 metre above a flat roof) and sit at least 1 metre from the roof edge, but in a conservation area panels on a principal or side elevation wall need planning consent, and a listed building needs planning permission and listed building consent.

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

What a business roof in Colwyn Bay could generate

Modelled with PVGIS for the town centre, a south-facing roof at 30 degrees produces about 942 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

• Development Bank of Wales Green Business Loan Scheme: Discounted fixed rate green loans, as part of a funding package with consultancy support, for energy efficiency measures and low carbon projects, with renewables including solar PV listed as typical eligible projects; repayments can start with a capital repayment holiday and the term is tied to the project's payback period. Limited companies, sole traders and partnerships must be based in Wales, have traded for at least two years and have at least one set of filed annual accounts. A grant of up to 50% of the cost of a detailed energy audit, to a maximum of £10,000 (£20,000 total costs), is also offered. Check the scheme's own page for eligibility and closing dates.

National reliefs apply too: see grants and reliefs in Wales.

Solar across Conwy

At the end of 2025, Conwy had 4,496 solar PV installations with 49.4 MW of capacity, up 96% since 2020, according to government figures. The Conwy page has the full local figures and how they compare.

Nearby towns

• Llandudno, about 5 miles away
• Rhyl, about 10 miles away
• Caernarfon, about 25 miles away
• Mold, about 25 miles away

Sources

• ons.gov.uk: census2021
• ons.gov.uk: datadownload.xlsx
• conwy.gov.uk: BP67 Conwy LDP Safeguarded Employment Sites
• assets.simpleviewinc.com: CON Basic ES 24 b45132fb 8262 4158 9521
• welshmountainzoo.org: about us
• businesswales.gov.wales: enterprise zones
• gov.uk: maps of anglesey freeport tax sites
• gov.uk: maps of flintshire and wrexham investment zone tax
• gov.uk: maps of uk freeports
• conwy.gov.uk: LDP29 Colwyn Bay Conservation Area Managment Plan
• gov.wales: planning permission solar panels non domestic
• developmentbank.wales: green
• 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.