Commercial solar installers in Sittingbourne

Key facts

Where businesses are in Sittingbourne

• Eurolink: One of Kent's largest business parks. In January 2020 occupiers on its newest phase, Eurolink V, included The COOK Kitchen, Doka, Pickering Plant and The Salvatori Group, and Barwood Capital bought the 4.2-acre Trilogy plot there for three units totalling about 84,000 sq ft.
• Kent Science Park: A 65-acre science park run by Pioneer Group, with labs, offices and coworking space across 47 buildings for agritech, biotech and biopharma businesses. Planning permission is in place for over 120,000 sq ft of further development.

Large employers and sectors with sites here include:

• Paper making (DS Smith, Kemsley Mill): Kemsley, the UK's largest mill for recycled papers, makes 830,000 tonnes of paper a year from recycled fibre, and DS Smith announced a £48 million fibre line there in October 2025. In September 2026 it proposed closing one machine, Paper Machine 4, with possible redundancies, while investing £20 million in Paper Machine 6.
• Frozen ready meals (COOK): COOK says most of its frozen meals are prepared by hand by its own cooks in its kitchens in Sittingbourne.

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

Sittingbourne 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 Sittingbourne

Sittingbourne follows the national planning rules for England, decided by Swale 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 High Street, Sittingbourne Conservation Area, designated in 1969, holds 26 listed buildings on about 3.5 hectares, so town centre roofs inside it need more care.
• The High Street, Milton Regis Conservation Area holds 37 listed buildings on about 4.3 hectares, including the Grade II* Court House.

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

What a business roof in Sittingbourne could generate

Modelled with PVGIS for the town centre, a south-facing roof at 30 degrees produces about 1,073 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 Sittingbourne 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 Swale

At the end of 2025, Swale had 3,997 solar PV installations with 448.1 MW of capacity, up 596% since 2020, according to government figures. The Swale page has the full local figures and how they compare.

Nearby towns

• Maidstone, about 10 miles away
• Ashford, about 14 miles away
• Tonbridge, about 22 miles away
• Folkestone, about 26 miles away

Sources

• ons.gov.uk: census2021
• ons.gov.uk: datadownload.xlsx
• kentonline.co.uk: part of industrial estate sold for 2 25m
• business-times.co.uk
• thepioneergroup.com: kent science park
• paper-world.com: kemsley paper mill to boost its efficiency
• sfmradio.com: jobs at risk at ds smith kemsley paper
• cookfood.net: cook faqs
• heritagecheck.co.uk: high street sittingbourne
• heritagecheck.co.uk: high street milton regis
• 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.