Brewery solar myths, debunked
The claims breweries hear most from generalist installers, corrected with the 2026 facts, including the honest limitation of solar and the inflated promises to distrust.
| The myth | The fact |
|---|---|
| Solar will wipe out my whole energy bill | It offsets your electrical load only, roughly 30% of a brewery’s energy. The thermal 70% (the wort boil, hot liquor, steam) needs heat measures such as a heat pump or immersion diversion. We are upfront about this because it is the honest way to size a system. |
| Solar gets 100% "full expensing" for tax | No. Solar is special-rate plant, so it is excluded from full expensing and from the new 40% first-year allowance. It qualifies instead for the Annual Investment Allowance (100% up to £1m), then a 50% first-year allowance above that. Any installer quoting "full expensing on solar" has it wrong. |
| Commercial solar is zero-rated for VAT | No. The 0% VAT rate is domestic-only. A brewery install is standard-rated at 20%, but a VAT-registered brewery reclaims it in full, so it is a cash-flow item, not a real cost. |
| The export tariff is locked in at a high fixed rate | Export rates are supplier-set and fall over time, Octopus cut its flagship rate to 12p in March 2026, and the market spans roughly 12 to 16p for the better fixed tariffs. We quote a range, and for a brewery self-consumption matters far more than export anyway. |
| We would have to shut the brewery down to install | No. Rooftop work happens around your production and your fermentation cooling keeps running. The only outage is the final grid connection, four to eight hours, scheduled for a weekend or a planned CIP window. |
| Our building is listed, so solar is impossible | Often not. Listed status means Permitted Development doesn’t apply and you need Listed Building Consent, and many historic breweries still find a discreet, consentable solution. We confirm the position before you commit. |
| Solar doesn’t generate enough in the UK to be worth it | A well-oriented UK commercial roof yields around 850 kWh per kWp a year, and because a brewery uses most of it on site, the payback lands at 4 to 7 years. The UK climate is not the limiting factor; your load profile and roof are. |
| Installers promising a 3-year payback and a 90% bill cut | Treat these with suspicion. A realistic brewery payback is 4 to 7 years and a realistic cut to your electricity bill is 30 to 60%; a headline "90% off your energy bill" ignores the thermal 70% that solar cannot touch. We model from your meter data and show you the file. |
Common questions
Does solar really not help with the wort boil?
Not directly, panels make electricity, and the boil is thermal energy, usually from gas or steam. But we can divert surplus solar into your hot liquor tank via an immersion element, and pair PV with an industrial heat pump to start electrifying process heat. Solar is the electrical piece of a wider decarbonisation plan.
So is the tax relief actually worth having?
Yes. The Annual Investment Allowance gives a profitable company 100% first-year relief on the first £1m of spend, worth up to about 25% of the cost. It is just not the "full expensing" some installers wrongly call it, and getting the terminology right is a sign you are dealing with a specialist.
If export rates keep falling, does solar still pay?
Yes, because a brewery is a self-consumption story, not an export story. Your continuous refrigeration load means you use most of what you generate, avoiding a 22 to 30p import rather than relying on a 12 to 16p export rate. Falling export rates barely move a well-sized brewery’s payback.
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