At handover
Confirm documents, emergency isolation training, meter access, faults contacts, warranties and maintenance obligations. Keep outstanding defects with an owner and completion date. Assign someone to review the operating data.
Published and sources checked 10 October 2026 / England
From interest to switch-on, and the first year afterwards
What happens after a school expresses interest, what leaders need to supply, and how to judge the first year’s results.
Progress depends on a suitable site, clear authority, evidence and the actual agreement. The stages below are School Connection’s practical synthesis of published programme material. They are not a guaranteed timetable or an offer of a place in the pilot.
Confirm the route before saying yes
The funded GBE rollout and private-finance PPA pilot have different ownership, payments and maintenance arrangements. DfE’s July guidance describes selection and autumn procurement for the PPA pilot, with final templates and resumed approvals dependent on testing. Its wider-access ambition is 2027/28. Read the current official position before treating interest as permission to proceed. [1]
Ask who is offering the project, what scheme it belongs to, who pays, who owns the equipment and who signs. A school can authorise assessment without committing to installation or a long-term electricity purchase.
The practical journey
| Stage | People to involve | School evidence and action | Decision gate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interest and authority | School sponsor and responsible body | Name the decision-maker, site owner and people who can authorise investigation. An expression of interest is not a contract. | Record the route and obtain permission to gather evidence. |
| Baseline and surveys | Finance, estates and competent assessors | Gather bills, interval demand, roof condition, existing warranties and planned works. Test demand after efficiency measures. | Identify material constraints and document missing inputs. |
| Design and appraisal | Project team and school reviewers | Review usable generation, surplus treatment, retained costs and adverse scenarios. Keep estimates separate from guarantees. | Agree a proposal suitable for formal scrutiny. |
| Consents and procurement | Responsible body and advisers | Confirm applicable land, planning, connection and procurement requirements. Review the actual contract and funding terms. | Record approvals, conditions and authorised signatories. |
| Pre-start | Project manager, contractor and school | Agree access, safeguarding, construction documentation, isolation arrangements and school communications. | Confirm readiness and the agreed works programme. |
| Installation | Contractor and project manager | Monitor progress, changes and disruption. Escalate departures from the agreed design or programme. | Complete the works and document outstanding items. |
| Commissioning and handover | Technical reviewers and operating team | Obtain technical sign-off, meter/monitoring access, emergency procedures, warranties and maintenance responsibilities. | Accept the documented operating system, with unresolved defects recorded. |
| First-year operation | Named school owner and contractual service provider | Track generation, imports, exports, invoices and faults. Review the baseline and explain changes in demand. | Report attributable outcomes and manage the end of any defects period. |
What the funded programme documents
Its delivery FAQ describes design kick-off, onsite pre-start, weekly progress meetings, handover training and a separate electrical sign-off check. It requires school approval before installation and a construction documentation pack before works. Responsible bodies sign the works contract; payments follow certified arrangements. These are historical funded-programme provisions, not the new PPA terms. [2]
DfE’s school-land guidance identifies applicable application routes, including a supplementary solar form. School ownership and the proposed transaction determine what must be checked; interest alone does not establish consent. [3]
Make the pre-start conversation concrete
Ask for named contacts, site boundaries, delivery/access arrangements, noisy work windows, any electrical shutdown, roof-warranty protection and the process for approving changes. Record how staff, families and lettings users will be informed. Term-time working requires a site-specific plan; a published example is not assurance that every school can avoid disruption.
Installation time is not total project time
The delivery FAQ mentions some onsite installations taking less than a week. Its February 2026 programme deadline is historical. Neither establishes a typical interval from a school’s initial agreement to operational generation. [2]
The Plymouth CAST account dates completion of four participating installations to late March 2025, but does not establish each school’s acceptance date. We therefore do not calculate an end-to-end lead time from it. [4]
| Timing dependency | What to request | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Surveys and design | Visit dates, required data and design review date | Incomplete evidence can prevent a reliable programme. |
| Approvals and contracts | Owner of each approval, submission date and unresolved conditions | A target date is not an approval or guaranteed turnaround. |
| Connection and export | Required network steps, applications and permissions for the design | Confirm the site-specific requirements with competent advisers. |
| School operations | Access windows, holidays, examinations, lettings and shutdown plan | Holiday installation should not be assumed possible or necessary. |
| Supply and works | Equipment availability, mobilisation and installation milestones | Separate planned dates from agreed contractual commitments. |
| Sign-off and operation | Commissioning, technical acceptance, monitoring and export arrangements | Panels on the roof do not alone establish a fully operational project. |
Ask for an earliest feasible date, a working target, the dependencies that could move it, and who will communicate changes. Retain actual milestone dates so later reporting can distinguish delivery experience from an initial promise.
The first year is where evidence becomes stronger
During operation
Check recorded generation against the design assumptions and investigate missing data or faults. Keep onsite consumption, exports and imports separate. Reconcile invoices with the actual payment basis; make no savings claim from a generation dashboard alone.
At the annual review
Compare matching periods and explain tariff, weather, occupancy and efficiency changes. Identify forecast, measured energy and invoice-supported financial results separately. Report pupil learning and reinvestment with their own evidence.
Before obligations change
The funded FAQ describes a 12-month defects period followed by school/responsible-body maintenance. A PPA may allocate maintenance differently. Check the actual agreement and arrange the review before the relevant deadline. [2]
The programme’s published school reports describe surveys, site training and operating manuals. They offer useful preparation material, while the school’s actual equipment and agreement determine its instructions. [5]
Sources, scope and update record
- DfE: PPA pilot guidance
Published 16 July 2026. England policy, eligibility and template/approval position.
- GBE programme portal: delivery FAQ
Historical funded-route arrangements and milestones. Its contracts are not evidence that the separate PPA templates have been published.
- DfE: school-land transactions
Updated 30 September 2026. Use current guidance and the school’s circumstances to establish the applicable route.
- Programme portal: Plymouth CAST installations
Dated completion evidence; no documented acceptance-to-completion duration.
- Programme portal: school reports and manuals
Published descriptions of surveys and training. Individual linked documents have not all been independently examined for this guide.
Published 10 October 2026. Recommendations, decision gates and first-year checks are School Connection’s synthesis; they are not claimed as a universal DfE process. No outside installer case studies, unpublished interviews or invented lead-time averages are used. Recheck scheme rules and actual contractual responsibilities before commitment.
Return to the programmeEnergy pressure and school budgets
Dated spending evidence, participating school leaders’ experiences and practical choices across efficiency, procurement and solar.
School energy bills: the pressure, the choices and what leaders can control