Commercial solar installers in Didcot

Key facts

Where businesses are in Didcot

• Milton Park: A 300 acre science and business park with nearly three million sq ft of floor space and over 280 organisations, focused on life sciences, energy, space and supporting technologies. Didcot Parkway station is five minutes away and a discounted bus pass covers travel from Didcot.
• Harwell Campus: Science and innovation campus with a Didcot (OX11) address, hosting over 7,000 scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and technicians, with clusters in space, health tech, energy, quantum computing and defence.

Large employers and sectors with sites here include:

• Science and fusion energy (Milton Park): Tokamak Energy moved to the enterprise zone at Milton Park in 2013 with four staff and had grown to nearly 200 staff when the council marked ten years of Oxfordshire's enterprise zones.
• Power generation (Didcot B): RWE's Didcot B is an operational combined cycle gas turbine power station of up to 1,440 MW that opened in 1997; the coal-fired Didcot A closed in March 2013 and has since been demolished.

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

Didcot is served by SSEN Distribution (Southern Electric Power Distribution). 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 Didcot

Didcot follows the national planning rules for England, decided by South Oxfordshire 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:

• Harwell Campus lies within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, and the Joint Local Plan 2041 policy for the campus requires that development does not unacceptably harm the landscape and scenic beauty of the National Landscape.

Our guides on national parks and National Landscapes explain what these mean for a solar project.

What a business roof in Didcot could generate

Modelled with PVGIS for the town centre, a south-facing roof at 30 degrees produces about 1,026 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 Didcot 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 South Oxfordshire

At the end of 2025, South Oxfordshire had 5,494 solar PV installations with 160.8 MW of capacity, up 244% since 2020, according to government figures. The South Oxfordshire page has the full local figures and how they compare.

Nearby towns

• Newbury, about 14 miles away
• Witney, about 16 miles away
• Bicester, about 20 miles away
• High Wycombe, about 21 miles away

Sources

• en.wikipedia.org: List of ONS built up areas in England
• miltonpark.co.uk: about
• harwellcampus.com: about
• whitehorsedc.gov.uk
• en.wikipedia.org: Didcot power stations
• southandvale.gov.uk: LPA73 AS12 Statement of Common Ground for Harwell
• miltonpark.co.uk: sustainability
• 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.