Alectrona
Commercial solar fundingA straight account of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme: a heat-led grant for public-sector estates, run by Salix, closed to new applications and being wound down, and not a route a private commercial business can use.
These are representative example reviews, not yet-collected customer feedback. They are written to illustrate the kind of feedback Alectrona aims to earn and are shown as design placeholders while we gather and verify reviews from our first commercial clients. Alectrona is the commercial solar trading brand of RVTC LTD.
What set Alectrona apart was the documented design pack. We had quotes from three installers, but only Alectrona handed us a full set of drawings, a single-line diagram and a design referencing BS 7671 and the G99 connection process. The whole thing read like an engineering submission rather than a sales brochure. Our M&E consultant reviewed it and signed it off without a single query. That gave the board the confidence to release the capital.
Other firms priced our roof off a satellite image and a desktop guess. Alectrona flew an in-house drone survey, fully insured and flown by a qualified commercial drone pilot, and built a 3D model of the actual roof. It picked up plant, vents and a parapet line that a flat aerial photo had completely missed, which changed the panel layout. I would rather find that out at design stage than on the day the scaffold goes up. The accuracy of that survey is the reason I trusted everything that followed.
As a finance director I was wary of being oversold a system bigger than we could use. Alectrona modelled the array against our actual half-hourly consumption data rather than an annual total, so it is sized to what we genuinely draw on site during the day. They were honest that exporting surplus is worth far less than self-consumption, and built the design around that. The capital case stacked up because the engineering was honest, not because the numbers were inflated.
We were undecided between buying outright, leasing and a PPA. Alectrona laid out all three side by side with the pros and cons of each against our balance sheet, instead of pushing the one that pays them best. They were clear about where a PPA makes sense and where capex wins, and pointed us at our own accountant for the tax treatment. The survey and design took a little longer than I expected, but the thoroughness was worth the wait. Genuinely consultative.
The install crew were tidy and well run, and worked to a clear CDM 2015 plan with a proper site induction and RAMS. What impressed me most was the handover. We received a full commissioning pack with the IEC 62446-1 test results, certification, O&M documentation and an as-built record for our maintenance team. As the people who have to live with this asset for the next twenty years, having that paperwork in order matters enormously. Nothing was left loose.
I expected the usual hard sell and got the opposite. After surveying our site Alectrona told us one roof section was not worth covering because of shading, and that a smaller, well-sited array was the better investment than filling every square metre. There was no commission-driven upselling and no pressure. For a six-figure capital project, that straight talk is exactly what you want from the people advising you. We will be using them again on our second site.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) is a capital grant for public-sector buildings, run by Salix Finance for DESNZ. It funds low-carbon heat, with solar only as a supporting measure. A private commercial business cannot apply, and as of mid-2026 no application window is open. DESNZ has confirmed no further PSDS funding beyond projects already awarded.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is capital grant funding, not a loan, administered by Salix Finance on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Phase 4 is the final phase, covering the financial years 2025/26 to 2027/28, with around £1.17 billion of capital committed across the three years. It is competitive: applications are assessed for value for money after the window closes, successful bodies receive a Grant Offer Letter, and funded projects must be delivered by 31 March 2028.
It is aimed squarely at the public sector. Eligible bodies include NHS trusts, schools and academies, colleges and universities, local authorities and councils, the emergency services, and other central and public-sector estates in England, plus bodies with reserved functions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The applicant has to own the building, or hold a long-term lease that places responsibility for the building services on them. Private companies, commercial landlords and private building owners are not eligible to apply directly. That is the single most important point on this page, so we will not soften it: if you are a private business looking to fund solar on your own roof, PSDS is not for you.
No. As of mid-2026 there is no open PSDS application window, and none is coming. The Phase 4 portal opened on 9 October 2024 and closed on 25 November 2024, and it has not reopened. Funding for that round was offered to successful applicants by around May 2025, and those projects are now in delivery towards the 31 March 2028 deadline. The earlier Phase 3c strand ran to 31 March 2026 and is also closed.
DESNZ has confirmed there will be no further PSDS funding beyond projects already awarded. Following the 2025 spending review, the department stated it would commit no further investment in the scheme, and said it would set out plans for the period after 2028 in due course. Currently awarded projects keep their committed funding and continue to delivery. The honest position is therefore not 'closed for now, check back later': it is that PSDS is being wound down, no Phase 5 or successor scheme has been published, and any future public-sector support after 2028 is unannounced. If you are an eligible body, check the Salix schemes page and gov.uk directly before assuming anything about future funding.
PSDS is a heat-decarbonisation scheme first. Its core purpose is replacing fossil-fuel heating, such as gas and oil boilers, with low-carbon heat like heat pumps. Solar PV and other energy-efficiency measures, including insulation, glazing and LED lighting, are eligible only as supporting measures within a qualifying low-carbon heat project, where they reduce the heat or electrical demand of a building served by a PSDS-funded heat source. There is no standalone solar-only strand. You cannot apply to PSDS for a rooftop PV array on its own.
Phase 4 moved away from first-come-first-served to a competitive, value-for-money assessment with a whole-building approach. Applications are ranked by their grant carbon cost and sorted into tiers, with the most cost-effective funded first. It applies a grant carbon-cost cap of £510 per tonne of CO2e saved over the lifetime of the funded measures, calculated as the requested grant divided by the direct carbon savings of the grant-funded measures. That cap is Phase-4-specific and should be re-checked against current Salix guidance before anyone relies on it. The £1.17 billion envelope follows a published profile of around £670 million in 2025/26, £300 million in 2026/27 and £200 million in 2027/28. Where PSDS is genuinely relevant to us is as a delivery partner: an eligible public-sector body that holds or is pursuing PSDS funding can include solar PV in its decarbonisation project, and we can design and install that PV to the scheme's requirements.
A private commercial solar customer cannot access PSDS. The scheme is public-sector-only, it is closed to new applications and being wound down with no successor published, and even when it was open it funded solar only as a bolt-on to a low-carbon heat project for an eligible public body. We will not build a business case around money that is not available to you.
For a private commercial site, the routes that genuinely carry value are different ones, and they each have their own page on this hub:
If you are an eligible public-sector body with PSDS funding already awarded, the picture changes, and we are glad to work to the scheme's requirements as your delivery partner. For everyone else, the most useful thing we can do is give you a clear read on whether anything applies to your site, then model the figures on the routes that do. None of this is financial or tax advice; confirm your own position with a qualified accountant or tax adviser, and check eligibility and any open round with Salix directly.
Indicative, not financial or tax advice. Confirm the position with a qualified accountant or tax adviser. Your figure comes from a survey-led PV*SOL model.
Tell us what your organisation is and where the roof is, and we will give you a straight read on whether any funding route applies, then model the figures on the routes that genuinely do. No grant promises, no from-price; a free eligibility and feasibility check, with figures from an on-site survey and a PV*SOL model. We are not financial or tax advisers, so we point you to a qualified adviser for the funding and tax decisions.