This year’s Solar & Storage Live was extra special as we unveiled all the details of our new PPA partnership with Zestec.

In between chatting all things PPA, we had fantastic conversations with installers and industry leaders about emerging trends, technologies and tactics for success.

Here’s a quick rundown of our key takeaways:

1. The landlord issue

Insight: Many landlords – particularly small, independent commercial property owners – lack knowledge and experience with renewables. In the UK, this is becoming one of the most common obstacles to decarbonising properties.

Action: Ask commercial prospects early on whether they rent or own their property. If they rent, you’ll need to factor landlord permission into your sales conversation from the outset.

Here are our tips for navigating conversations about energy-efficiency with landlords.

2. New design mandates from insurers

Insight: After several recent solar-related fires, global commercial property insurer FM Global has mandated specific design requirements. Notably, at FM Global–insured properties, all inverters must now have rapid shutdown capability. This has helped drive demand for inverter brands like SolarEdge.

Action: Make sure you factor design requirements like these into your conversations with commercial prospects.

3. UK warehouses are a HUGE opportunity

Insight: Despite their vast roof space, only 5% of UK warehouses currently have solar installed.

At the same time, warehouses are becoming increasingly energy-intensive – driven by trends like forklift electrification, automation and robotics.

The business case for on-site solar generation has never been stronger.

Action: Ask yourself: are you doing enough to target this market? Success here could be transformative for your business.

4. Are grid challenges, dare we say, easing?

Insight: Many installers we spoke with reported that grid approvals for commercial projects are now coming through more quickly and easily. This aligns with recommendations in DESNZ’s recent Solar Roadmap, which places strong emphasis on planning reform.

Action: If you previously parked commercial leads in the “too hard” basket – or stalled projects due to grid delays – now may be the time to revisit them.

5. Fully funded solutions are in high demand

Insight: Many commercial installers are struggling to get clients over the line due to the high upfront cost of solar projects – especially as larger, more expensive solar + storage investments gain popularity.

Action: Be clear from the very start of your sales conversations that you offer fully funded solutions. If you don’t, you risk running into cost objections later or losing the lead to an installer who introduces finance upfront.

Here are our tips for flipping the script on your sales conversations to deal with cost objections up front.

6. Community energy: the next big thing?

Insight: Following Germany’s lead, community energy is gaining momentum in the UK.

In simple terms, it’s peer-to-peer energy trading – households or businesses buy and sell rooftop-generated solar power with their neighbours.

Action: Whether community energy becomes a lasting market opportunity or a short-lived trend, it’s worth keeping on your radar. Staying on top of emerging models and technologies – and the industries that could benefit – helps build credibility in this fast-changing sector.