Commercial solar installers in Horsham

Key facts

Where businesses are in Horsham

• Foundry Lane: One of Horsham's core industrial areas, where Ceres has its base at Viking House. A May 2026 market report described supply in the town as constrained, with low vacancy and demand mostly for units of about 15,000 sq ft.
• Redkiln Close and Blatchford Road: Two of the town's core industrial areas, alongside Parsonage Road and Nightingale Road, with industrial units of about 7,000 to 17,000 sq ft offered for sale in 2026.

Large employers and sectors with sites here include:

• Clean energy technology (Ceres): Ceres, based at Viking House on Foundry Lane, licenses its solid oxide fuel cell and electrolyser technology to global partners for clean power generation and hydrogen production.
• Life sciences and engineering: Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 700 strong site in Horsham, and other occupiers include Veryan Medical, EMCEL Filters, Chess Dynamics and Aerco, which makes electrical components for aerospace and defence.

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

Horsham 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 Horsham

Horsham follows the national planning rules for England, decided by Horsham 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:

• The Horsham Conservation Area, designated in 1972, covers about 16 hectares of the town centre and holds 57 listed buildings including the Grade I Parish Church of St Mary, so roofs in the old town need more care.

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

What a business roof in Horsham could generate

Modelled with PVGIS for the town centre, a south-facing roof at 30 degrees produces about 1,050 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 Horsham 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 Horsham

At the end of 2025, Horsham had 4,976 solar PV installations with 72.7 MW of capacity, up 32% since 2020, according to government figures. The Horsham page has the full local figures and how they compare.

Nearby towns

• Crawley, about 7 miles away
• Aldershot, about 23 miles away
• Farnborough, about 24 miles away
• Bognor Regis, about 25 miles away

Sources

• ons.gov.uk: census2021
• ons.gov.uk: datadownload.xlsx
• ceres.tech
• ceres.tech: about us
• gov.uk: enterprise zones
• gov.uk: freeports
• gov.uk: maps of freeports and freeport tax sites
• gov.uk: investment zones in england
• heritagecheck.co.uk: horsham
• 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.