Factory rooftops · South West England · United Kingdom
Factory rooftop solar in Penzance: 109,000 kWh a year on 100 kWp
A 100 kWp array on a factory roof in Penzance generates about 109,000 kWh a year at the local specific yield of 1,090 kWh/kWp. Factories are a better solar match than most commercial buildings because process loads, compressed air and HVAC run through the same daylight hours the array is producing.
With roughly 70% self-consumed against £0.28/kWh, that output is worth about £21,364 a year and pays back in around 4.2 years on an installed cost near £90,000. Even with the UK's modest irradiance, high commercial tariffs mean a factory roof in Penzance still lands near a 4.2-year payback if most of the generation is used on the day shift.
Industrial estates around Penzance sit in the same South West England band as Bristol, Plymouth and Swindon. What changes site to site is roof area, shading from plant rooms, and whether the factory runs a true day shift. SolarScout flags those roofs from satellite and OpenStreetMap rather than from a bought list.
Turn these rooftops into a lead list in minutes.
Scan this area free →Why factory roofs in Penzance self-consume more than warehouses
A quiet distribution shed may export a large share of midday generation. A factory in Penzance typically does not: motors, ovens, plating lines or refrigeration pull power while the sun is up, so a higher share of the 109,000 kWh stays behind the meter and the 4.2-year payback holds.
That is the conversation to open with — not "solar is green", but "this roof in Penzance offsets about £21,364 a year at today's tariff of £0.28/kWh".
What to inspect on a Penzance factory roof
Look for large, low-pitch structural roofs with few roof lights, limited HVAC clutter, and a south or east-west run that matches South West England's 1,090 kWh/kWp resource. North-light sheds and heavily plant-loaded roofs still work, but usable kWp drops and payback stretches past the 4.2-year city example.
SolarScout estimates footprint first, then (where Google Solar data exists) modelled annual kWh, so you can skip the roofs that will never carry a 100 kWp array and spend time on the ones that will.
How to turn Penzance factory roofs into a lead list
Scan Penzance in SolarScout and filter for factories. Each row carries an estimated roof area, a worked saving at £0.28/kWh, and contact fields where map data provides them. Export CSV or Excel and drop the list into your CRM.
When Penzance is thin, run the same scan on Bristol, Plymouth and Swindon — they share the South West England yield, so the economics stay comparable and you are not mixing a sunny coast with a cloudy hinterland.
Frequently asked questions
How much can a factory rooftop in Penzance generate?
About 109,000 kWh a year on a 100 kWp array. That is 100 kWp multiplied by Penzance's specific yield of 1,090 kWh/kWp; larger roofs scale linearly until structure, shading or grid export caps the design.
What payback does factory rooftop solar see in Penzance?
Around 4.2 years when most of the generation is used on site. Factories usually beat empty warehouses on that score because daytime process load matches the solar curve.
How does SolarScout find factory rooftops in Penzance?
It combines OpenStreetMap industrial building tags with satellite imagery and, where available, Google Solar modelling — then exports Penzance factories as leads with roof area and a £21,364/year worked example on 100 kWp.