Scaling Manufacturing & Energy: How a DIY Food Producer Could Power Growth with On-Site Solar

Scaling manufacturing energy with solar: cut bills and control growth pains — a practical plan for food & drink SMEs

Hook: If rising energy bills and unpredictable peak charges are slowing your food or drink production growth, you’re not alone. Modern SMEs can no longer treat energy as a utility cost only — it must be a strategic asset. Using the real growth story of Liber & Co. as a practical blueprint, this guide maps a staged on-site solar and storage plan that matches production scale, reduces operating cost, and preserves cashflow as you grow in 2026.

Why this matters now (2026 context)

Late 2025–early 2026 accelerated two industry shifts that directly affect manufacturing energy planning for SMEs:

• Commercial solar and battery costs continued to fall, improving payback windows for small-to-medium rooftop and carport systems.
• Grid flexibility markets and VPP aggregators matured, enabling SMEs to monetise battery flexibility and demand response at smaller scales than before.

Taken together, this means a staged investment in onsite generation and storage can deliver both immediate cashflow relief and new revenue streams — if planned around how you scale production.

Case study anchor: Liber & Co.’s growth as an energy planning model

Chris Harrison and his co-founders started Liber & Co. with one pot on a stove and built the business into a global syrup manufacturer operating 1,500-gallon tanks. They retained a DIY ethos: handling manufacturing, warehousing and operations in-house. For many UK food & drink SMEs that start small and scale rapidly, that same approach — phased investment, in-house optimisation, and targeted outsourcing where it matters — is a blue-print for energy planning.

Key lessons from Liber & Co. for energy planning

• Start lean, measure a lot: small pilot systems and sub-metering show real loads and shifting patterns before big capex.
• Match investment to growth rate: stage capacity additions so you’re not overpaying for unused capacity or undersizing critical loads.
• Keep operations internal where it adds value: sub-metering, process changes and staff-led energy management reduce demand before you invest in hardware.

Staged solar & storage deployment mapped to production growth

This staged approach maps to three manufacturing growth phases many food SMEs follow: Pilot, Scale, and Mature. Each stage has a clear energy playbook.

Stage 1 — Pilot (low-volume, proof-of-concept; Liber & Co. early kitchen days)

• Typical energy profile: low to moderate daily kWh, most work during daytime.
• Actions: install sub-metering; replace inefficient lighting; fit variable speed drives on motors where practical; deploy a 10–30 kWp rooftop system if roof area allows.
• Battery: optional 10–30 kWh for peak shaving and resilience (especially useful for refrigeration during short outages).
• Benefits: proof of concept, staff buy-in, immediate bill reduction and performance data to size Stage 2.

Stage 2 — Scale (commercial production, multi-tank lines — Liber & Co. mid-growth)

• Typical energy profile: hundreds to low thousands kWh/day, higher process heating and refrigeration loads, daytime-heavy production windows.
• Actions: expand rooftop or carport solar to cover 20–60% of daytime load; install a properly sized battery (100–500 kWh) to boost self-consumption, provide time-shifting and participate in flexibility markets; deploy energy management software and shift some batch processes to daylight hours.
• Benefits: material reduction in grid purchases during peak tariff periods, improved production resilience, potential revenue via flexibility/VPP aggregation.

Stage 3 — Mature (large scale, export and wholesale: Liber & Co. global supply)

• Typical energy profile: thousands kWh/day, possible 24/7 operations, high process heat and refrigeration loads.
• Actions: integrated onsite generation (large rooftop + ground-mount), larger battery banks (500 kWh–multi MWh), combined heat and power (CHP) or electrification of thermal loads with heat pumps and thermal stores, full DERMS integration and participation in multiple market revenue streams.
• Benefits: near-term energy independence, predictable long-term operating cost, new revenue via grid services, and resilience for export commitments.

How to size solar and storage — practical formulas

Use these rules of thumb to create a baseline estimate. Always follow with a site-specific energy audit and yield modelling.

Solar sizing — core formula

Required system size (kWp) = desired daily solar generation (kWh/day) ÷ average daily generation per kWp (kWh/kWp/day).

UK guidance: average daily generation per kWp varies by location and orientation — use 2.5–3.5 kWh/kWp/day as a working range (southern England ~3.0–3.5, northern UK ~2.5–3.0).

Battery sizing — core formula

Battery capacity (kWh) = desired backup/shift energy (kWh) ÷ usable depth of discharge (DoD) ÷ round-trip efficiency.

Example usable DoD = 80% (0.8), round-trip efficiency ≈ 90% (0.9). So multiply required kWh by ~1.4 to size battery gross capacity.

Peak power and inverter sizing

Inverter kW should match the facility’s peak simultaneous load you want to support (e.g., process kettles + compressors). For export-limited sites, oversizing panels vs inverter (PV/inverter ratio of 1.2–1.4) is common to increase yield.

Example: staged numbers for a maker scaling like Liber & Co.

The numbers below are illustrative and show how capacity scales with production.

Profile assumptions

• Stage 1 daily consumption: 150 kWh/day
• Stage 2 daily consumption: 1,200 kWh/day
• Stage 3 daily consumption: 2,500 kWh/day
• Average solar yield: 3 kWh/kWp/day (mid-range UK)
• Target solar contribution: Stage 1 = 30%, Stage 2 = 40%, Stage 3 = 60% (daytime-biased)

Calculation results

• Stage 1 — desired solar = 45 kWh/day → system ≈ 15 kWp
• Stage 2 — desired solar = 480 kWh/day → system ≈ 160 kWp
• Stage 3 — desired solar = 1,500 kWh/day → system ≈ 500 kWp

Battery examples (to support daytime shifting and resilience)

• Stage 1 battery: 20–30 kWh (basic fridge backup + peak shave)
• Stage 2 battery: 200–400 kWh (shift late-afternoon loads into daylight)
• Stage 3 battery: 1,000+ kWh (support 24/7 operations and market participation)

Quick ROI sketch — transparent assumptions

Example: Stage 2 system (160 kWp PV + 400 kWh battery). Use conservative installed costs for 2026:

• PV installed cost: £900–£1,200 per kWp → PV capital = £144k–£192k
• Battery installed cost: £350–£500 per kWh → battery capital = £140k–£200k
• Total installed = £284k–£392k (before grant/finance)
• Estimated annual solar generation = 160 kWp × 3 kWh/day × 365 ≈ 175,200 kWh/year
• Assume self-consumption = 50% → energy offset = 87,600 kWh/year
• Grid energy price assumption (2026 example): £0.30/kWh → annual saving ≈ £26,280

Simple payback ≈ 10.8–14.9 years (ignoring flexibility revenues, maintenance, inflation and tax treatments). Add in flexibility and VPP revenue — today a modest aggregation income of £5–15k/year is realistic for an active battery of this size — and the effective payback shortens.

Demand management: unlock quicker wins and smaller systems

Before you buy panels, reduce consumption and shift loads. Improvements often pay for themselves faster than hardware.

1. Sub-meter critical processes: identify refrigeration, kettle, pump and HVAC loads and time-shift where possible.
2. Process scheduling: batch heating operations during peak solar hours to increase self-consumption.
3. Thermal storage: convert heat processes to stored thermal energy (hot water tanks, insulated stores) that can be charged during solar production.
4. Power factor and reactive correction: reduces network charges and can be low-cost to implement.
5. Lighting and motor efficiency: LED retrofits, ECM motors and VSDs reduce baseline load and make smaller PV systems more impactful.

Financing & capex planning options in 2026

Capital planning must match your growth and cashflow preferences. Typical options:

• Capex purchase: highest return long-term; consider if you have tax allowances or want balance sheet ownership.
• Debt financing / green loans: preserves working capital and can be structured around project cashflow.
• Operating lease or instalment finance: spreads payments with maintenance bundled.
• Commercial PPA / Energy-as-a-Service: third-party installs and you buy the energy — zero/low upfront cost but lower lifetime returns.
• Hybrid structures: capex for PV, OPEX for batteries or VPP services — splits risk. Work with local installers and finance partners when modelling options.

Advice: model multiple scenarios (CAPEX, PPA, lease) and include conservative energy price inflation (2–5%+). Factor in expected maintenance and replacement (batteries typically warrantied for 8–12 years, inverters 10–15 years, panels 25+ years).

Regulatory and market opportunities (2026 trends)

By early 2026, several trends are relevant:

• Flexibility markets and VPPs: aggregators now accept smaller batteries and rooftop systems for grid services — this is a new revenue line for manufacturers with batteries.
• Time-of-use and dynamic tariffs: these incentivise shifting consumption into daylight hours and increase the value of storage.
• DERMS and smart contracts: integration with energy management platforms gives automated dispatch and revenue optimisation.

Work with a supplier or aggregator that can publish expected revenue ranges and manage market participation — don’t assume DIY market entry without software and market expertise.

Operational best-practices: minimise disruption to production

• Plan electrical upgrades during scheduled maintenance windows.
• Use phased commissioning — bring PV arrays online by section, validate metering, then connect batteries and DERMS.
• Train operations staff on new workflows that use solar energy windows for batch processes.
• Lock service-level agreements for critical assets (batteries, inverters) to keep uptime high.

Checklist before you commit: quick due diligence

1. Get a full site energy audit and sub-metering report.
2. Verify roof condition, usable area, orientation and shading analysis.
3. Request yield models and P50/P90 generation estimates from installers.
4. Ask for detailed lifecycle O&M and replacement cost schedules.
5. Model returns under different energy price and self-consumption assumptions.

Advanced strategies to future-proof your investment

For SMEs targeting rapid scale and export growth, consider:

• Modular expansion: design civil works and cable routes to accept future arrays and batteries without major retrofits.
• Electrify thermal processes: convert steam/boiler heat to heat pumps + thermal stores to get more value from solar electricity.
• Integrate telemetry: require open APIs for your EMS so you can switch aggregators as market conditions change.

Putting it into practice: a short action plan for the next 90 days

1. Install sub-meters on production lines and refrigeration within 30 days.
2. Complete a lightweight feasibility study (roof survey + generation model) within 45 days.
3. Run two-week production trials shifting one batch process into daylight hours and measure impact.
4. Gather 3 finance proposals (CAPEX, lease, PPA) and a VPP aggregator term sheet by day 90.

"The companies that treat energy as a strategic production input — not a utility cost — grow more predictably." — industry operational lead, 2026

Final notes: lessons from Liber & Co. that matter to UK SMEs

Liber & Co.’s story is not about being big from day one — it’s about iterative learning, in-house competence and scaling investments with demand. For UK food & drink manufacturers, that translates into an energy plan that starts small, measures obsessively, and expands in line with production. In 2026, with cheaper hardware and accessible market services, staged solar + storage is both feasible and strategic.

Actionable takeaways

• Start with data: sub-meter and measure before sizing hardware.
• Stage investment: pilot → scale → mature, matching panels and batteries to production growth.
• Optimise demand first: shifting and thermal storage often reduce the system you need.
• Explore flexibility markets: aggregated battery services shorten payback and create revenue.
• Plan financing to match growth: hybrid structures preserve cash and align costs to benefits.

Get a bespoke plan for your site

Ready to map Liber & Co.’s staged approach to your production floor? Request a customised energy plan including a 3-stage deployment model, an ROI projection and a list of vetted installers and finance partners. We’ll benchmark your current loads, model several PV + battery scenarios, and show the path to lower bills and stronger margins.

Call-to-action: Contact our energy planning team at PowerSuppliers.uk to book a free 30-minute discovery call and start your 90-day roadmap.

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