Solar on the roof, chargers on the car park

If you run a business with a car park - factory, warehouse, retail unit, hotel, office - you've got two assets sitting unused: the roof above and the tarmac below. A combined solar and EV charging installation puts both of them to work, and we've installed exactly this kind of setup before - ground-mounted solar feeding outdoor fuse boards so businesses can offer free charging to staff with no recurring electricity cost.

Who runs the work

Renegade Solar is run by Ashley Merritt. He's been an electrician for around twenty years, with about ten of those on commercial projects including industrial sites like the Jersey Recycling Centre. He's MCS-certified (NAP-66870), NAPIT registered, and an Octopus Energy Trusted Partner.

For a commercial install of this kind, what that means in practice is that Ashley walks the site, the roof and the car park himself, then designs the system and is on site for the install - no salesperson handover, no install crew you've never met. If the numbers don't stack up he'll tell you. Where roofers and scaffolders are needed we use local trades we've worked with for years.

Why this works financially

Commercial solar makes sense on its own because businesses use electricity during the day, when generation is at its peak. Adding workplace EV charging on top of that pushes the maths further: staff cars are on site through the working day, charging exactly when the panels are generating, and the load comes off the solar rather than being bought from the grid. For staff who do business mileage in EVs, the energy cost of that mileage drops close to zero.

For the business, most commercial installations reduce monthly electricity costs by 70-100%, with payback typically within three to four years. EV charging adds usage that improves your self-consumption ratio - more kWh used on site, fewer exported back to the grid - which generally improves payback further.

Setup options

Depending on your site, the design will normally be one of two things: rooftop solar with wall-mounted chargers on the side of the building facing the car park, or ground-mounted solar feeding chargers on outdoor fuse boards where the roof isn't ideal but you've got spare land or a grass verge. We've done that second setup for businesses offering free staff EV charging.

If you're interested in solar carport structures - an elevated frame over parking that doubles as the panel array - flag it during the survey and Ashley will talk through whether it's the right fit and what's involved.

Charger options

Ashley isn't tied to a single manufacturer. The common installs are:

• Standard 7kW units for staff parking, which charge most EVs fully during a working day
• 22kW three-phase chargers on sites with three-phase power, useful for fleet or shared use with faster turnaround
• GivEnergy chargers, which integrate well if you're running GivEnergy battery and inverter kit
• Octopus chargers, which are smart chargers that wait for the cheapest rates when grid charging is needed

All chargers are OZEV grant-approved where applicable and include smart features for app control and energy monitoring.

Why businesses do it

Free EV charging at work is a genuine perk that doesn't depreciate, and it makes the business more attractive to staff who already drive electric or are thinking about it. "We power our staff parking with solar" is also a credible, specific claim that's easy to put on the website, into tender responses, and into B Corp or ISO 14001 documentation - and the chargers and panels are physical, on-site evidence for visitors and clients that you're walking the walk.

What you need

For most owner-occupied commercial properties - warehouses, factories, retail - the three things that make this work are usually all there: you own the building (long-term ownership matters because the payback runs over years), you've got enough roof space, ground space, or both, and there's a car park reasonably close to where the supply lands. For smaller offices it depends on the site.

How Ashley handles it

He visits your site, reviews your electricity usage, looks at the roof and the car park, and designs a system to suit. Multiple options at different system sizes are typically presented with full financial analysis for each. Once you've chosen, he installs with minimal disruption to your operations and provides all certifications, grid connection paperwork and Smart Export Guarantee setup.

Credentials

• MCS-certified installer (NAP-66870)
• NAPIT registered (66870)
• Octopus Energy Trusted Partner
• 20+ years' experience as an electrician, including 10 years on commercial projects
• 9.85/10 on Checkatrade from 105+ verified reviews

Coverage

Based in Prestwich, we serve businesses throughout Greater Manchester and the wider North West.

Get in touch for a free consultation on solar-powered workplace EV charging.