Commercial solar installers in Redruth

Key facts

Where businesses are in Redruth

• Barncoose Industrial Estate: One of the existing industrial estates that Cornwall Council's Site Allocations plan names as a strategically important employment site for Camborne, Pool, Illogan and Redruth, safeguarded for business, industrial and storage and distribution uses (policy CPIR-E2).
• Treleigh Industrial Estate: A safeguarded strategically important employment site in Redruth (policy CPIR-E3), where the council's plan encourages light industrial, general industrial and storage and distribution uses.
• Cardrew Industrial Estate: A safeguarded strategically important employment site (policy CPIR-E4); the council's plan says future industrial development in the area should be directed primarily to existing estates such as Barncoose, Treleigh and Cardrew.

Large employers and sectors with sites here include:

• Tin mining (Cornish Metals, South Crofty): Cornish Metals is reopening the South Crofty tin mine at Dudnance Lane, Pool, Redruth. The National Wealth Fund invested £28.6m in January 2025 and agreed a £35m loan in May 2026 for the processing plant; the project is expected to produce about 4,000 tonnes of tin a year and create around 320 direct jobs.
• Mining investment (Cornwall Council Good Growth Programme): In June 2025 Cornwall Council's Good Growth Programme awarded £4.19m towards new workshops, stores and offices on the Bartles Foundry site at South Crofty, part of a £6.8m project, saying the reopened mine could create up to 320 permanent jobs.
• Heritage and archives (Kresen Kernow): Kresen Kernow, Cornwall's archive centre, opened in 2019 in the shell of the former Redruth Brewery and holds more than 1.5 million archive items on 14 miles of shelving.

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

Redruth is served by National Grid Electricity Distribution (South West 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 Redruth

Redruth follows the national planning rules for England, decided by Cornwall 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:

• Redruth has two conservation areas, Redruth Town Centre and Plain an Gwarry, and the town is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, so roofs in the centre and near historic mine buildings need more care.
• Cornwall Council's Site Allocations plan asks development near the World Heritage Site in the Camborne, Pool, Illogan and Redruth area to respect and, where possible, enhance its outstanding universal value.

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

What a business roof in Redruth could generate

Modelled with PVGIS for the town centre, a south-facing roof at 30 degrees produces about 1,036 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 Redruth 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 Cornwall

At the end of 2025, Cornwall had 34,740 solar PV installations with 683.0 MW of capacity, up 14% since 2020, according to government figures. The Cornwall page has the full local figures and how they compare.

Nearby towns

• Falmouth, about 9 miles away
• Newquay, about 14 miles away
• St Austell, about 20 miles away
• Bodmin, about 28 miles away

Sources

• ons.gov.uk: census2021
• ons.gov.uk: datadownload.xlsx
• cornwall.gov.uk: cornwall site allocations development plan document
• cornwall.gov.uk: cornwall site allocations development plan document
• nationalwealthfund.org.uk: cornish metals may 2026 factsheet
• cornwall.gov.uk: good growth programme backs mining at south crofty
• kresenkernow.org: about us
• assets.publishing.service.gov.uk: Investment Zones Pack Dec 2025
• gov.uk: maps of investment zones and investment zone tax
• gov.uk: maps of uk investment zones
• gov.uk: budget 2026 html
• redruth-tc.gov.uk: Appendix 15 Redruth Shopfront Design Guide March2024
• 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.