52 kWp Solar on a 60-Bed Residential Care Home
- System size
- 52.65 kWp
- Annual saving
- £9,266
- Payback
- 5 years
- Location
- South East
Scenario
A 60-bed residential care home in the South East. Annual electricity bill £42,000. South-facing pitched roof with 380 sqm usable area. CQC Good rating with a documented sustainability-improvement KLOE action under Well-led. The operator — a privately-held single-home limited company — was looking to reduce energy cost and build evidence for an Outstanding-grade Well-led submission at the next inspection.
This case study is an illustrative composite derived from published industry data (notably B&M Care’s Osbourne Court install, April 2025) and our own engagement profile in similar settings. Specific identifying details are anonymised.
What we delivered
- System size: 52.65 kWp (97 × 540W bifacial panels on a single south-facing pitched roof)
- Inverters: 2 × 25 kW string inverters, mounted in dedicated plant room
- Monitoring: Live generation display in reception, family-facing screen
- Grid connection: G99 application via the local DNO, 8 weeks from submission to acceptance
- Commissioning date: April 2025
Results
| Metric | Year 1 |
|---|---|
| Generation | 48,954 kWh |
| Self-consumption | 56% (27,400 kWh) |
| Energy saving (import offset at 27p) | £7,400 |
| SEG export income (21,500 kWh at 8p) | £1,720 |
| Total year-1 saving | £9,120 |
| CO₂ avoided | 11,015 kg |
| IRR | 24% |
| Simple payback | 5 years |
Why this worked
Three factors drove the unusually strong result:
- Demand profile. The home’s hot water and laundry baseload runs through daylight hours, giving 56% annual self-consumption — at the upper end of the residential care range. Care home demand profiles match solar generation profiles better than offices or retail.
- Roof orientation and condition. A single south-facing pitched roof with no shading and good structural condition allowed maximum yield without the cost overhead of multiple roof slopes.
- AIA tax shield. As a single-company limited operator with positive corporation tax position, the home claimed full AIA on £52,650 capex — £13,162 tax saved at 25% main rate, reducing effective net capex to £39,488.
CQC outcome
The home’s next CQC inspection (Q4 2025) cited the live generation display in reception as part of the Well-led KLOE evidence base. The inspector specifically referenced the family-facing communications, staff awareness of carbon savings, and the integrated decarbonisation roadmap (next-step heat pump install planned). The Well-led rating moved from Good to Outstanding; overall home rating moved from Good to Outstanding.
Operator quote
“We were honest about why we wanted solar — we needed the energy cost reduction and we needed the Well-led evidence. They delivered both, and the install team worked around our residents like they understood the setting from the start. The next CQC inspection cited the solar specifically. That paid back the install in a way I didn’t expect — the Outstanding rating has measurably improved our enquiry rate from families.”
— Registered Manager
What we’d do differently
In hindsight, we’d have specified 60 kWh of battery storage from day one. Annual self-consumption would have risen from 56% to 78%, capturing an additional £2,800–£3,400 in annual saving. The operator is now planning a battery retrofit for 2026.