Funding checker

Solar Carport Grants and Funding: What Applies in 2026

Answer seven questions and see which funding and tax routes apply to a UK commercial solar carport, which have closed and what each is worth. Last verified 30 October 2026.

The short answer

No open UK grant pays for a commercial solar carport itself. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) closed in November 2024 and was heat-led anyway. What a private-sector or public-sector buyer can still use is the Annual Investment Allowance (tax relief, not a grant), the Workplace Charging Scheme for EV sockets, business rates relief on the PV plant in England, and finance structures such as a PPA or lease. The checker below sorts those against your answers. To see what the carport is worth before funding, use the sizing and net-cost calculator.

Your car park

Who is the applicant?

Where is the site?

Do you own the car park?

Sector

EV charging sockets planned

Rough project size

Timeline

Annual electricity spend for the site

Send your answers and the result

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Your name

Organisation

Work email

Phone

Site postcode

Approximate parking bays

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Your result

Indicative only, based on the published rules at 30 October 2026. It is not tax or funding advice.

The routes, with sources

Route	Status	What it is worth	Source (checked 30 October 2026)
Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme	Closed	Nothing open. Phase 4 was the last phase.	gov.uk scheme collection
Annual Investment Allowance	Open	100% first-year relief on up to £1m of qualifying spend a year; tax relief, not a grant	HMRC
Workplace Charging Scheme	Open to 31 March 2027	£500 a socket, 40 sockets across sites (£20,000 at the cap)	gov.uk changes from 1 April 2026
Workplace Charging Scheme, education	Open to 31 March 2027	Up to £2,000 a socket, 40 sockets (earlier vouchers stay at up to £2,500)	gov.uk education guidance
Business rates, renewable plant (England)	In force to 31 March 2035	PV plant left out of the rateable value	SI 2022/405
Salix loans, Wales	Check	Loans for Welsh public sector bodies; terms vary by route	Salix Wales
Salix loans, Scotland	Check	Public-sector loans including a solar strand; carport eligibility not confirmed	Salix Scotland

Public bodies: what changed

With PSDS closed, a council, school or NHS carport case has to stand on the energy saving and the export value, funded from capital, prudential borrowing or a PPA. Great British Energy has funded rooftop solar on schools and NHS sites in England and part-funds solar strands inside the Salix schemes in Wales and Scotland, but we found no open call for a carport. The PSDS Phase 4 guide sets out why the scheme never funded a standalone carport, and the education and public-sector pages cover how those estates usually proceed.

Workplace charging sockets

The Workplace Charging Scheme pays towards charging sockets, not towards the canopy, so it sits alongside a carport budget and does not reduce it. Who can use the chargers a scheme-funded socket serves is covered in chargers funded by the Workplace Charging Scheme, and the design side is on the EV charging canopies page.

What this page does not do

Where a grant or loan applies, the applicant makes the application, not this website. Solar Car Parks describes the routes; it does not screen eligibility, draft or submit applications, or give tax advice. Ask any adviser you appoint exactly which steps they cover.

Common questions

Funding FAQs

Is there a grant that pays for a commercial solar carport?

Not one that pays for the carport itself. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, the main public-sector grant, closed when Phase 4 ended in November 2024 and no successor has been announced. The routes that remain are tax relief (the Annual Investment Allowance), the Workplace Charging Scheme for EV sockets, business rates relief on the PV plant in England and finance structures such as a PPA or lease.

How much does the Workplace Charging Scheme pay?

£500 a socket for installations completed from 1 April 2026, up to 40 sockets across your sites, so £20,000 at the cap. State-funded education institutions can apply for up to £2,000 a socket, also with a 40-socket cap. Funding is available until 31 March 2027. It pays towards the charging sockets, not the carport.

Does the Annual Investment Allowance cover the whole carport?

It covers qualifying plant and machinery up to £1m a year. Solar panels are special-rate expenditure, and the steelwork and groundworks are not automatically in the same pool, so ask your accountant to split the invoice by asset. The allowance is tax relief, not a grant, and a body that pays no tax gets no benefit from it.

Can a charity or council use any of this?

A charity or public body that pays no tax gets nothing from the allowance, which is why funding structures matter more: a funder that pays tax can own the asset and claim it, reflecting it in a PPA or lease price. Public bodies in Wales and Scotland should check the Salix loan pages for their nation. We found no open England public-sector loan for a standalone carport.

Does this checker give me a funding decision?

No. It sorts the main routes against your answers using the rules published by government, and it can be wrong for your circumstances. Solar Car Parks is an independent information site published by SEO-DONS LTD. We do not apply for funding or give tax advice; confirm the position with your accountant and the scheme administrator.

Next: size the array and work out net cost, check the capital allowances position, or compare finance routes. All three tools are on the tools page.