Commercial solar installers in Melton Mowbray

Key facts

Where businesses are in Melton Mowbray

• Melton Commercial Park: A 51.4 hectare employment area in the town with 19,881 square metres of existing space and 7.69 hectares of development land in plots of 0.2 to 5.87 hectares, with direct access to the rail network.
• East Midlands Distribution Hub: Three industrial and warehouse units totalling 665,527 sq ft, with yard space and land for expansion, promoted by Melton Borough Council for logistics.
• Pera Business Park: Serviced offices for small and larger businesses on the outskirts of the town, with a cafe and meeting spaces.

Large employers and sectors with sites here include:

• Food manufacturing (Samworth Brothers): Samworth Brothers, whose brands include Ginsters, Soreen and Dickinson & Morris, has its head office in Melton Mowbray, fronting two food manufacturing plants on the A607.
• Agri-food (Stockyard Melton Mowbray): The council is redeveloping the Stockyard to create an expanded events space and a regional centre for food production, enterprise and tourism.

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

Melton Mowbray is served by National Grid Electricity Distribution (East Midlands 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 Melton Mowbray

Melton Mowbray follows the national planning rules for England, decided by Melton 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:

• Melton Mowbray Conservation Area, designated in 1975, covers about 26.7 hectares of the town centre and holds 95 listed buildings, including the Grade I Parish Church of St Mary and the Grade II* Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe, so roofs inside it need more care.

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

What a business roof in Melton Mowbray could generate

Modelled with PVGIS for the town centre, a south-facing roof at 30 degrees produces about 1,005 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 Melton Mowbray 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 Melton

At the end of 2025, Melton had 2,350 solar PV installations with 36.9 MW of capacity, up 124% since 2020, according to government figures. The Melton page has the full local figures and how they compare.

Nearby towns

• Oakham, about 9 miles away
• Loughborough, about 13 miles away
• Grantham, about 14 miles away
• Stamford, about 19 miles away

Sources

• ons.gov.uk: census2021
• ons.gov.uk: datadownload.xlsx
• investinmelton.com: investment sites opportunities
• en.wikipedia.org: Samworth Brothers
• gov.uk: enterprise zones
• gov.uk: investment zones in england
• en.wikipedia.org: Freeports in the United Kingdom
• heritagecheck.co.uk: melton mowbray
• 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.