Solar Without the Upfront Cost: How Solar-as-a-Service Works

The biggest barrier to commercial solar has never really been the technology. It’s the upfront cost, and the maintenance that comes after the panels go up.

Solar-as-a-Service, delivered through our partner UrbanVolt, removes both. UrbanVolt puts a fully-funded solar array on your roof at zero upfront cost. You pay a fixed rate for the power, 30–40% below the grid price from the day it switches on. UrbanVolt owns and maintains the system for the length of the agreement, typically 10 to 30 years, so there’s nothing for you to maintain either.

We’ve seen what this looks like in practice at Maidenhead Synagogue, where a 50kWp solar system (that’s the size of the panel setup) now covers 69% of daytime demand under a Solar-as-a-Service agreement. The result: a 38% saving against the grid rate, and £5,350 saved in year one alone.

Projected over the full 25-year term, that’s £434,924 in savings — plus 10,952kg of CO2 saved every year.

For most businesses, solar has stopped being a big investment decision and become a simple running-cost decision. That’s the shift Solar-as-a-Service is built for.