0% loan for solar panels: can a business get one?

"Can I get a 0% loan for solar panels?" is one of the questions people also ask when they search for green loans. The honest answer for a UK business is that the interest-free offers you see advertised are almost all aimed at households, and the public schemes that sound like loans either exclude business or do not cover solar. This guide shows where each offer stops, and what a business owner can do instead.

The 0% offers are for homes

Energy suppliers advertise 0% APR finance for domestic solar. E.ON Next, for example, advertised a 0% APR option for up to three years on solar for UK homes when we checked on 6 October 2026, arranged through a credit broker that works exclusively with HomeServe Finance as lender. That offer is written for the home buyer. It is not a business loan, and you should not assume a company can use it.

The Warm Homes Loan Scheme does not lend to businesses

The government's Warm Homes Loan Scheme sets rules for the lenders taking part. Its scheme rules allow lenders to lend only on a personal lending basis to owner-occupiers of existing domestic properties and private rented sector landlords, and state that lending to business or special-purpose vehicle type structures will not be allowed. A limited company buying panels for its premises is outside it.

Regional schemes: read the small print

Two public bodies run schemes with names that sound like what you want. In Scotland, Business Energy Scotland's SME Loan offers loans up to £100,000, but its page says it is not accepting new applications for solar PV projects, and Home Energy Scotland's grant and loan is for homeowners in their only or primary residence. In Wales, the Development Bank of Wales Green Business Loan Scheme offers discounted fixed rates and lists solar PV as eligible, but the applicant must be based in Wales, trading for at least two years, with at least one set of filed annual accounts. Discounted is not the same as 0%.

What a business can do instead

Expect to pay interest, then lower the cost of it. Compare at least two written offers on the same amount and term. Test whether the saving covers the repayments with the cash-flow test on our page about solar loans for small business. If the loan is the obstacle, look at hire purchase, which spreads the cost without a conventional loan, or at no-upfront-cost arrangements. The tax reliefs on the equipment, including the Annual Investment Allowance, apply however you fund it, and our guide to a green loan for small business explains what lenders ask for.

Treat any offer that promises "free" or "interest-free" solar for a business with caution. If the repayments are not interest, something else in the agreement is paying for the finance, so ask for the total amount repayable in writing and compare that figure, not the headline rate.

Questions business owners ask

Can a limited company get a 0% loan for solar panels?

We found no public 0% scheme for business solar. The advertised 0% offers are written for UK homes, and the Warm Homes Loan Scheme rules say lending to business or special-purpose vehicle type structures will not be allowed.

Is there a government loan for business solar panels?

In Wales the Development Bank of Wales Green Business Loan Scheme offers discounted fixed rates and lists solar PV, for Wales-based firms trading at least two years. Business Energy Scotland's SME Loan was not accepting new applications for solar PV when we read it.

Why do some deals say interest-free for business?

Check the total amount repayable. If the payments are not interest, something else in the agreement, such as the price of the system or fees, may be paying for the finance.