An overall investment by the government and Great British Energy of up to £255 million will see rooftop solar PV installed at 250 schools, 260 NHS sites and multiple military sites.
March 5, 2026
The number of UK schools to install rooftop solar PV with funding from Great British Energy (GBE) has reached 100.
The government’s publicly owned energy company has been targeting schools and colleges in areas of deprivation, primarily in the North East, West Midlands and North West. Every region of England now has at least 10 schools benefitting from the scheme.
This is a large expansion of the scheme, with just 23 installations completed as of November 2025. 
The company’s CEO Dan McGrail said: “Reaching 100 schools is an important milestone in our mission to cut energy bills and means more money can be spent on education.”
GBE will continue funding installations on school buildings and the government said around 250 will have solar installed by summer, saving up to an estimated combined £220 million over the lifetime of the solar panels. 
An overall investment by the government and GBE of up to £255 million will cover installations of solar and what the government called ‘complementary technologies’, most likely battery energy storage, on around 250 schools and colleges, around 260 NHS sites and multiple military sites.
Related:Great British Energy to fund solar at 255 school sites
The milestone comes shortly after it was confirmed that GBE would run the £1 billion Local Power Plan alongside the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to expand local and community ownership of renewable energy plants across the UK. 
GBE is ‘exploring’ financing models for the scheme which include grants for early-stage project development targeting both community energy groups and partnerships between those groups and local governments; loans for construction and operations, including a Shared Ownership loan; and a “Local Investment Fund” to identify and fund viable project opportunities. 
According to the publicly-owned company’s five-year strategic plan, published in December 2025, GBE will also establish a portfolio of ‘at least’ 15GW clean energy generation and storage capacity and mobilise £15 billion of private finance through its own spending.
Its portfolio should be generating income by 2030, according to the plan. Further, to enable it to fund similar rooftop installations beyond the schools, NHS sites and military sites, it will establish a commercial platform to provide an end-to-end business solution for onsite generation. 
The scheme, GBE Local, will be a shop window, open to any consumer groups with a desire to develop onsite energy generation at scale, looking to leverage the public sector's buying power and standardise technologies where possible to enable smaller projects to access suppliers and benefit from economies of scale.
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Molly Green
Senior Reporter, Informa
Molly joined the team in 2024 and has led coverage on the UK sites. Now shifting to a more global view, Molly is interested in how legislation shapes market dynamics, covering the intersection of policy design, investment patterns, and energy transition pathways. 
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