From the Rooftops: Why Suffolk can lead the UK's commercial solar revolution

Welcome to the first of a series of articles we're publishing over the next twelve months as part of our From the Rooftops campaign to put Suffolk businesses front and centre of the UK's commercial rooftop solar revolution.

Over the next twelve months, we will showcase how Suffolk businesses can reduce costs, generate revenue, and build resilience through rooftop solar – all while contributing to our country's net-zero targets and helping save our planet for future generations.

Make sure you subscribe to our monthly From the Rooftops newsletter so you don't miss a thing.

Tony Davies

The case for commercial and industrial rooftop solar

It is striking that every time a new planning application is submitted with images of new warehouses, office blocks, energy infrastructure or factories, the same comments will now appear across any media “why isn’t that roof covered in solar panels?!”

And who, realistically, could disagree?!

Utilising our rooftops for solar energy is one of those ideas that has almost everyone in agreement – an undoubted “good thing” that maximises the value of an existing unwanted space to create energy that is wholly renewable and can be deployed directly back into local businesses or their close neighbours for real financial savings.

Part of the reason this isn’t yet the default approach is that there are, or have been, challenges that have made the financial case difficult to justify – finding the right technology mix, local grid complications, mobilising capital, dealing with aging roof materials, or addressing legal and ownership issues for leaseholders and short-term renters.

We believe there is now a range of solutions and experienced businesses in the sector that can resolve most of these challenges most of the time, whilst still preserving the obvious economic and financial benefits.

This series aims to ensure that knowledge is shared with the business and wider community in our area and drive greater uptake for local benefit.

Why Freeport East?

We believe commercial rooftop solar presents a massive opportunity for the Freeport East  area to take the lead for the UK and respond to the Government’s ambitions for a “solar rooftop revolution”. 

Freeport East covers the main A14 logistics corridor from Felixstowe to Stowmarket via Ipswich, as well as Harwich-Colchester. Being so close to the UK’s biggest container port, as well as other important ports in Harwich and Ipswich, means a range of commercial spaces are in abundance. 

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We have identified over 9 million square feet of recently developed or planned roof space across just 8 of the larger commercial developments in the Freeport East area.

Using metrics applied by the UK Warehousing Association, these roof spaces alone could support close to 100MW of solar installation. 100MW of rooftop solar installation within just 20km of Ipswich would represent tens of millions of pounds of investment and support hundreds of skilled jobs and apprenticeships. Perhaps most importantly, it could lead to savings for businesses in our area of over £20m per year.

However, there are many more existing and planned roof spaces in our local area that could support solar. With the addition of solar carports and other technology innovations, there is a clear opportunity to develop a nucleus of locally based renewable energy resources that could be of a material scale and significance. Local energy experts have analysed that over 1GW of rooftop solar could be possible across Suffolk as a whole, representing over £500m of investment, many millions of pounds in energy savings for the local economy and supporting over a thousand jobs.

100MW of rooftop solar installation within just 20km of Ipswich would represent tens of millions of pounds of investment and support thousands of skilled jobs. Perhaps most importantly, it could lead to savings for businesses in our area of over £20m per year.

Not an opportunity to be ignored.

Why is this so important to Freeport East?

All 12 UK Freeports have a government mandate to help deliver local economic growth, partly by supporting existing businesses in the region and attracting new international inward investment. We are also focused on driving innovation wherever we can, particularly to support productivity improvements and decarbonisation.

Driving greater uptake of rooftop solar in the commercial and industrial market helps us deliver on all these areas.

Three areas stand out for us.

Reducing costs for businesses

The cost of solar installations has reduced significantly in recent years, while product quality has risen. Combined with a range of new battery products and other associated technologies, this means that, in many cases, the installation of rooftop solar simply makes good financial sense. 

In an era of high and fluctuating energy costs, taking back control of your energy allows savings to flow straight to the bottom line – consistently.  Rooftop solar is estimated to reduce average business energy costs between 40-80% and can go even further with storage options.

That’s before the other benefits for businesses that come from being seen as a good employer, good corporate citizen, and a supply chain partner committed to sustainability.

While businesses under the roof will be the first to benefit, by reducing wider energy demand on the national grid, we can also reduce the number of days when gas prices dictate the national wholesale cost of energy, reducing national exposure to these fluctuations, and reducing energy costs for ALL businesses.

Freeport East wants to help all businesses in our region thrive and be more financially secure. We believe we can help by creating an environment in which the options for accessing cheaper energy are better understood and experts in the field are more accessible.

Reflecting investor interests

As Freeport East engages with investors and businesses internationally, we are constantly struck by the appetite for delivering new, lower-cost, renewable-based energy solutions as the default approach for new developments—it’s simply what the market expects to see, and the UK risks being left behind if we do not facilitate those options. 

Being at the forefront of offering these types of solutions is important for our region in terms of attracting international investment. 

Assan Panel, headquartered in Turkey and now constructing its new £45m manufacturing facility at Gateway 14 in Stowmarket, will deliver its own extensive rooftop solar solution —we want that to be the norm rather than the exception.

Freeport East

So not only is this about millions of pounds of investment in rooftop solar, it’s also about the tens and hundreds of millions of pounds that will flow if our region is seen as a leader in enabling the clean and low-cost energy solutions that international companies and major investors are now demanding.

Creating new, unseen partnerships and opportunities

Sometimes you cannot foresee exactly what may come from kick-starting an initiative. Neither Freeport East nor Ipswich.co.uk would claim to see the future.

But our strong sense is that as technologies and delivery models evolve around rooftop solar, battery storage, community energy, green finance, advanced materials and others, the opportunities to develop novel ways of deploying more solar and delivering greater benefits for businesses and communities will only increase. 

Think about how the increase in electric HGVs, AI capacities, and warehouse automation all drive an increase in on-site industrial energy demands. New housing developments are increasingly located close to employment and industrial centres, presenting new sharing opportunities as well as options for better balancing demand and supply. 

What new types of opportunities and business models could be created by viewing these collectively through the lens of using rooftop solar to deliver the most efficient, lowest-cost energy services?

To do that, we want to help raise the general understanding of what’s possible and make the right links between players in the market to develop those “spark moments” that will trigger new collaborations and ideas. 

With that in mind, we will also work with our local partners on developing a “From the Rooftops” event in 2025/26 in order to bring these collaborations into a single place. Look out for more information on that as the series develops.

Our ask of you

Keep in touch with this series, but also get involved where you have expertise, case studies or positive information to share. If you work in the market and want to demonstrate your capabilities, make yourself known – we want to celebrate what the East of England has to offer in this market as well.

As a business decision-maker, consider how this might work for you. Use this series to learn the facts and how common challenges can be addressed.

As an employee, ask about the benefits rooftop solar could bring to your business. Help build the business case, and use the series to provide relevant information to support engagement across your business and community.

And as a consumer, remember it is your choices that drive commercial behaviour. Where you can, ask whether your products are supported by the most efficient forms of clean energy. And if you park to shop, wonder whether next time it could be under a solar roof.

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