Could Your Business Cut Its Bills by 86%?
- Comprehensive site survey & feasibility assessment
- Bespoke solar & battery design with payback forecast
- No-obligation quote within 24 hours
Project Overview
Keyte Smith runs a busy workshop in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. Like many manufacturing and engineering businesses, they were watching their electricity costs climb year on year, with annual bills sitting around £4,000 and no sign of prices easing.
Rather than simply offsetting a portion of their daytime usage with panels alone, Keyte Smith wanted genuine self-sufficiency. Their brief to us was clear: reduce their reliance on purchased energy as far as practical. That pointed to a combined solar and battery design — and a substantial one, built around 64kWh of storage.
We designed and installed a 24kW solar array of 48 all-black 500W panels, paired with two Solis 10kW hybrid inverters and two 32kWh Fogstar batteries. Three months in, the system is generating strongly and the business is on course for an 86% reduction in its electricity bills. As an MCS certified and NICEIC approved installer with 15 years of experience in commercial solar installations, this is exactly the kind of self-sufficiency project we specialise in.
This Project Is Ideal If You Have:
A workshop, factory or industrial unit with a good-sized metal roof
Weekday daytime operations with machinery driving up consumption
A goal of energy self-sufficiency, not just a modest bill reduction
A roof with skylights or obstructions that needs a carefully designed layout
The Challenge
With annual electricity bills of around £4,000 and rising energy costs eating into margins, Keyte Smith needed a system sized to their ambition: cutting reliance on the grid to a minimum, not just trimming the bill.
The roof itself was well suited to solar — a large metal covering with good access. The complication sat in the detail. The workshop roof carries several rows of skylights, which break the surface up and make string design considerably trickier. Each string of panels has to be planned around the skylights so the array performs as one coherent system without sacrificing the natural light the workshop relies on below.
Inside the building, the second challenge was cable containment. This is a busy, working workshop, and the cable runs from the roof to the inverters and battery bank had to be routed cleanly and safely through an active working environment — tidy containment, no trip hazards, and no disruption to the team's daily production.
Our Solution
We designed a 24kW solar PV system using 48 all-black 500W panels, laid out in strings carefully planned around the skylight rows. The result keeps every skylight clear while making full use of the remaining roof area — and from the air, the finished array looks like it was always meant to be there.
The heart of the system is the storage. Two Solis 10kW hybrid inverters manage generation and charging, feeding two 32kWh Fogstar batteries — 64kWh of storage in total. That capacity is what turns a good solar installation into genuine self-sufficiency: midday generation that the workshop can't use immediately is banked and drawn down through early mornings, evenings and overcast spells.
The battery bank has a second job, too. With the workshop closed at weekends, the system stores what the panels generate and can discharge it during peak periods — so the installation keeps working for the business even when nobody is on site. It's a design decision that turns commercial battery storage from a convenience into an asset in its own right.
Technical Specifications
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We'll assess your roof, energy usage and goals to design a solar and battery system with an accurate payback forecast.
Installation Process
The full installation — panels, both inverters and the complete battery bank — was completed in four days, with the workshop operating as normal throughout.
The roof work itself went up cleanly. With the string design resolved at the planning stage, our installers worked systematically across the metal roof, fixing rails and mounting the 48 panels around the skylight rows exactly as designed. Scaffolded edge protection kept the work safe over the busy yard below.
The more painstaking work happened inside. Routing cable containment through a busy workshop means planning runs around machinery, working areas and the daily movement of the team — then executing them tidily so the finished job looks as professional inside as the array does from the air. All electrical work was completed by our NICEIC-qualified electricians, and the system was commissioned with SolisCloud monitoring configured so the team can watch generation, battery state and savings from their phones. It's the same expert solar fitting approach we bring to every commercial project.
Project Video
A drone's-eye view of the completed installation at Keyte Smith — 48 all-black panels worked neatly around the workshop skylights, covering the roof from ridge to eaves.
Results & Impact
Three months after commissioning, the system is doing precisely what it was designed to do. The combination of a 24kW array and 64kWh of storage means the workshop now buys only a small fraction of its electricity from the grid.
Key Results
Against annual bills of around £4,000 before the installation, an 86% reduction is worth roughly £3,400 a year to the business — savings that put the system on track to pay for itself within 4–5 years. After that, it keeps generating for decades with minimal ongoing cost.
The weekend strategy adds a further layer of value. Because the workshop is closed on Saturdays and Sundays, the 64kWh battery bank stores the weekend generation and can discharge it during peak periods — turning idle days into productive ones and the battery itself into an earning asset for the business.
The environmental result is just as tangible: based on 23,000 kWh of clean generation a year, the system saves approximately 9 tonnes of CO₂ annually. For businesses weighing up a similar investment, our guide to smart solar investment for businesses walks through how these returns are calculated.
See What Solar Could Save Your Business
Get a personalised savings forecast based on your actual energy bills and property.
What Our Client Says
Professional from start to finish — communication was excellent. We'd absolutely recommend Spectrum for the quality of the install and the professionalism of their install team.— Keyte Smith, Kirkby-in-Ashfield
Three months in, the team at Keyte Smith can see their generation, battery charge and savings in real time through the SolisCloud app — and the numbers are tracking exactly in line with the design we presented at quote stage.
Project Gallery
Common Questions Before Going Solar
"My roof is full of skylights — is solar still worth it?"
Usually, yes. Skylights make the string design more involved, but they rarely rule solar out. At Keyte Smith we planned the panel strings around several rows of skylights and still fitted the full 24kW array, keeping the workshop's natural light untouched.
"Is a big battery really worth the extra investment?"
If your goal is self-sufficiency, storage does the heavy lifting. Keyte Smith's 64kWh battery bank is the reason their bills fell by 86% rather than a more modest daytime-only saving — and it earns at weekends by discharging stored energy at peak times.
"Will the installation disrupt our production?"
Minimising disruption is part of the plan, not an afterthought. At Keyte Smith the workshop ran as normal through all four days of the install, with cable containment routed carefully around the working areas.
"How do we know the system will perform as promised?"
Every design comes with a generation and savings forecast, and the SolisCloud app lets you check real performance against it daily. Three months in, Keyte Smith's numbers are tracking in line with the design — and every install carries our 5-year workmanship guarantee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Workshops and industrial units are often ideal for commercial solar. They typically have large metal roofs, heavy weekday daytime power use that matches solar generation hours, and straightforward mounting. At Keyte Smith in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, a 24kW array of 48 panels cut energy bills by 86% — even with rows of skylights to design around.
A battery lets a business use solar energy generated at midday during early mornings, evenings and cloudy spells, pushing self-sufficiency far beyond what panels alone achieve. Keyte Smith paired their 24kW array with 64kWh of Fogstar battery storage, which is central to their 86% bill reduction and means far less electricity bought from the grid.
It doesn't go to waste. With the workshop closed at weekends, Keyte Smith's 64kWh battery stores the weekend generation and can discharge it during peak periods — turning the battery into an earning asset rather than leaving the system idle when nobody is on site.
Yes. Skylights reduce the usable roof area and make string design more involved, but an experienced installer plans panel strings around them so the natural light is kept and the array still performs. At Keyte Smith we designed the strings around several rows of skylights and still fitted the full 48-panel, 24kW array.
Commercial solar payback typically falls between 3 and 7 years depending on energy use, system size and electricity prices. Keyte Smith's 24kW solar and 64kWh battery system is on track for a 4–5 year payback, driven by an 86% reduction in their annual electricity bills.
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Learn More About Commercial Solar
If you're considering solar and battery storage for your workshop, factory or industrial unit, our resources will help you understand the process, the numbers and what to expect. Start with our complete business solar guide for detail on system sizing, battery storage and payback calculations.
Browse more examples of our work in our solar installation case studies, see our dedicated page on solar panel installation for UK businesses, or learn about the maintenance and care services that keep commercial systems performing for decades.
