How much do solar panels for caravan parks cost?

The cost of solar panels for a caravan park in the UK depends on how big your site is and what you are powering. Most single-park installs land between £22,000 and £450,000 fully installed. A small campsite amenity block running a 20 to 150 kW system sits in the £22,000 to £135,000 range. A mid-sized static caravan park with reception, shop, laundry and amenity blocks typically runs a 50 to 500 kW system at £45,000 to £450,000. A park with a heated swimming pool and a leisure complex sits at the upper end because the pool plant is the single largest load on most parks. Multi-park groups rolling solar out across several sites run into the millions, but the per-site numbers stay in the same band.

Cost per kW by system size

The clearest way to compare is cost per kilowatt of installed capacity, which falls as the system gets bigger:

• Below 100 kW (small campsite or amenity-block systems): roughly £800 to £1,000 per kW.
• 100 to 500 kW (typical static caravan park with pool or clubhouse): roughly £750 to £950 per kW.
• Above 1 MW (large parks and group roll-outs): falling toward £600 per kW.

So a 110 kW array across an amenity block, reception and a small ground-mount section comes out around £85,000 to £105,000, while a 250 kW system on a pool-equipped park lands near £190,000 to £230,000. These are fully installed figures covering design, panels, inverters, mounting, electrical work and commissioning.

What drives the variation in price

Two parks of the same size rarely cost the same to fit, and the difference usually comes down to the state of the site rather than the panels. The main cost drivers on a holiday park are:

• Roof condition. Older amenity-block and clubhouse roofs sometimes need strengthening or replacement before panels go on. Where a re-roof is needed, the solar business case often helps justify it.
• Site electrical infrastructure. Many parks have ageing pitch pillars and amenity-block boards. Bringing the distribution up to current BS 7671 Section 708 standard alongside the install adds cost but is usually cheaper than doing it as a separate job later.
• Grid connection. A G99 export application is needed above 17 kW per phase, and on constrained coastal and rural networks the connection can be the longest and most uncertain item.
• Ground-mount vs rooftop. Ground-mount between pitches costs more per kW than rooftop because of groundworks, but it makes sense where roof space is short.
• Planning. Parks in National Parks, AONBs, conservation areas or on protected coast may need a visual-impact assessment and screened ground-mount, which adds design cost.
• Coastal specification. Salt air means a corrosion-resistant specification on seaside parks, a modest premium that pays for itself in system life.

The seasonal economics that make parks different

A holiday park is not a 24/7 factory, and that changes the maths in your favour. Your highest-value loads, pool heating, shower-block hot water, kitchen and bar refrigeration and guest EV charging, peak in the same April-to-October window when the panels generate most. In-season self-consumption is naturally very high, which is the single biggest driver of a good payback. In the quiet winter months the system exports under the Smart Export Guarantee, earning income on power you would not otherwise have used. We model your specific occupancy calendar against the generation curve before quoting, so the figures reflect your real seasonal load rather than a generic commercial profile.

Financing: cash, asset finance or a power purchase agreement

Most park installs are not paid for in cash, and three routes are common:

• Cash plus Annual Investment Allowance. If you have the capital, the 100% AIA lets you offset the full cost against profit up to £1m, worth up to 25% effective tax relief in year one for a limited company. Solar is a special-rate asset, so it uses AIA rather than full expensing; above the £1m cap a 50% First Year Allowance applies. See our grants and funding guide for the detail.
• Asset finance. Spreads the cost over 7 to 15 years and is typically EBITDA-positive from year one, useful when park cash flow is seasonal and concentrated in summer.
• Power purchase agreement (PPA). A third party funds and owns the system and you buy the power it generates at a fixed rate below your grid tariff, delivering day-one savings with zero capex. Useful for parks that would rather not tie up reserves before peak season.

For multi-park groups we set up a single finance framework so each site draws on the same facility, which is how operators like Park Holidays have rolled solar out across dozens of parks at once.

How payback is calculated

We quote payback three ways so you can stress-test it. Simple payback divides the net cost by the annual saving, and most parks land between 5.5 and 7 years, with pool-heavy leisure buildings at the faster end and lower-load campsites toward seven. We also model internal rate of return (IRR) and net present value (NPV) over the 25-year panel warranty, which capture rising grid prices and the time value of money. We share the full financial model, not just a headline number, so you can change the assumptions and see what happens.

Hidden costs to budget for

An honest quote includes the items that catch parks out: the DNO connection charge, a structural survey of older roofs, scaffolding or access plant, any pitch-pillar or amenity-block electrical upgrades, and on protected sites the planning and landscape-assessment fees. We put all of these in the proposal up front rather than letting them surface mid-project.

Cost against your grid bill

The real benchmark is what you pay the grid now. With commercial electricity having roughly doubled since 2021, a park spending £40,000 to £120,000 a year on site-wide electricity is exposed to volatile prices every winter. A well-sized array fixes a large share of that cost for 25 years at a known price, which is as much a hedge against future rises as it is a saving today.