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
Illustrative composite scenario (60-bed residential care home) — a modelled worked example built from published industry install data and 2026 cost benchmarks. Figures are modelled, not measured on a project we carried out.
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 the project 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.
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.
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- ✓ All funding routes modelled (PPA, AIA, hire purchase, lease, SHDF)
- ✓ Resident-safe install protocols (dementia-friendly induction, LFP-only batteries)