Blog>Trade>Growing your trade business>How to grow a renewable energy business
Last updated: 2 January 2025
How to grow a renewable energy business
Interest in renewable energy is increasing – the government wants more of it and so do homes and businesses. Now is an ideal time to grow a renewable energy business – this article shows you how.
The key to growing a sustainable renewable energy business comes down to picking the best way to do it. And that depends on the decisions you make on which methods to use.
You’ve probably gone through the hard work of starting a renewable energy business. An even bigger step to take could be the next one.
Grow too fast and you could fail
Expand too slowly and you could miss the boat
What you want is to build your trade business at the best rate to allow for sustainability.
Choosing your specialisations
One approach could be to focus on certain areas of the renewable energy market. You might want to reduce the number to specialise.
Alternatively, perhaps you see growth opportunities in diversifying the services you offer.
The main renewable energy sectors include:
Solar power
Wind power (installing small-sized wind turbines for homes or businesses)
Geothermal power using the earth’s heat
Air source heat pumps that use heat from the air outside
Looking at your long-term ambitions
The way you choose to expand has as much to do with personal as it does with financial goals. These might be among your key tactics for achieving growth:
Rapid growth as quickly as possible
Gradual growth over a set period
Staying local, going regional – or bigger
Grow by taking on staff or using contractors
Grow by going alone
Long-term plans to build up your business and sell it
Plans to pass on your business to family or colleagues
How much time you want to spend working – your family and work/life balance might be important considerations
Energise your business with more leads
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Fine-tuning your business plan
A common challenge for successful trade businesses is often the pace and direction of growth. You’ve got to be in control of your business growth at all times.
That means growing at a pace that suits you.
A practical starting point is creating a business growth strategy. It should help you to identify your goals.
You’ll then have something to measure your growth against. Our handy free guide to creating a business development strategy can help you do this.
How to create a business development strategy - Free template included
What is a business development strategy? The business development process helps to identify, nurture, and acquire new customers and business opportunities to help grow your organisation and ensure its profitability. This may seem quite broad, but this is where your business development strategy
Different ways to grow your renewable energy business
There are plenty of ways to grow a renewable energy business.
However, not all might be right for you or your trade business. Even if you work in other areas and offer renewable energy services.
In all probability, a blend is likely to be the most effective. Working simultaneously on different growth areas also gives you flexibility.
You can increase activity in an area if it is earning income. Or stop one that doesn’t work for you. It means you’re not reliant on just one way of trying to achieve profitable growth.
Creating a marketing plan
Marketing your business in new or better ways can generate growth. If you already have a marketing strategy, think about a revamp. If your marketing activity is more ‘off the cuff’, then consider setting out a well-structured plan.
A marketing plan helps you focus on how you promote your business. It can also help you cut your marketing costs by doing it more effectively.
How to create a renewable energy marketing strategy to reach more customers
The renewable energy market is growing rapidly as the UK aims to reach its net zero carbon targets. It’s estimated that over one million UK homes already generate their own electricity from solar or wind power. On top of that, in 2024, there were over 115,000 searches on our website for jobs relating to renewable energy.
Expanding into new geographic areas
Trade businesses often start locally and grow from there. With a solid ‘home base’ you can think about entering new regions. And that’s likely to require marketing your business to new audiences.
That calls for research into new market areas. Think about your target audience. Decide on the best ways for you to build business leads in new regions.
Another consideration if you extend to new geographies is the name of your renewable energy business. If your name features specific locations then it might not work so well for you.
Energise your business with more leads
We can help you find more work in your local area
Looking at ways to fund growth
Profitable trade businesses often fund their own growth. For many, though, other options may be necessary. That could include borrowing to pay for expansion.
Your expectation should be that the extra revenue created by growth helps to pay for some or all of your borrowing costs.
Ideas on financing growth include:
Money saved by the business
Personal savings
Borrowing from family and friends
Loans from a bank or other lenders
Other small business funding options could be on the table. This includes grants and other types of funding.
Learning new skills
A great way to go for growth is by adding to your trade skills. One way is to upskill in new renewable energy areas. An example here is training in heat pump installation.
How to upskill for renewable energy trades
If you’re serious about developing a career in the renewable energy trades, we’ve put together our top tips and advice on how to upskill. We’ll talk you through possible renewable energy training courses and funded renewable energy training options. So, let’s get started… List of renewable energy
Expanding your workforce
This might be an essential requirement as you grow. Having more staff can mean the difference between slow and very rapid expansion of your trade business.
Renewable energy is an in-demand sector, so pay rates are pretty good. That’s certainly the case with the average solar panel installer salary and the average heat pump engineer salary.
Offering good salaries should attract high-quality people. Here are some ways of increasing your workforce:
Hiring more people – making sure they have the right skills for the job
Taking on apprentices
Bringing in subcontractors – they can support your business growth
Applying for business training grants – upskilling yourself and your team
Reviewing your pricing and business costs
Trade businesses can adjust their pricing as a way to increase revenue and grow. For example, that might mean raising prices because your business is better established and has a stronger reputation.
Do your competitors charge more for the same services?
Could you reduce your prices to help win more business?
On the flip side of revenue are business costs. These could increase in line with your business expansion. An example is if you need to buy more equipment, tools or vehicles – your capital expenditure.
How to price your services
Your pricing strategy will ultimately dictate how much revenue you generate and what profit you can make. We’ve put together an overview of the main types of pricing strategies to help you with the pricing strategy for your business. What is a pricing strategy? Simply put, your pricing strategy
Investing in new technology
Technology is a key area that trade businesses turn to improve the way they run.
You can use technology to:
Run jobs more efficiently
Manage cash flow better
Improve customer service
Extend your marketing activities
Online marketing activities that can help your business grow include:
Improving your website
Developing your website and keeping it up to date is important. You’ll want to impress people with the latest information and news about you.
Improving your ranking on internet search engines
This is done with search engine optimisation (SEO). Boosting SEO can put your trade business higher up in searches, like on Google.
Building your social media presence
Trade businesses rely increasingly on social media for multiple purposes. This includes sharing information with customers and for business promotions.
Check how your competitors use social media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Then see how your business can do better.
Ready to expand your trade business?
Plan ahead for sustainable growth
Finding more customers
This is where your sales and marketing activities can reap rewards.
Sales activity - as finding new business leads is important (more leads usually equals more sales)
Marketing activity - so you can reach more potential customers
Set a marketing budget to hit your targets cost-effectively. Why not check out our free marketing planning guide and see if our content can help?
Working more efficiently
It can be easy to be totally focused on making your business grow. The risk is you lose sight of working as efficiently as possible.
A lot of efficiency problems trade businesses can face is with time management. Here’s where you need to think about working smarter. And that means planning your time better.
Have you ever considered how running your own business should allow for a better work-life balance?
Energise your business with more leads
We can help you find more work in your local area
Improving customer satisfaction
Nurturing strong and lasting customer relationships is vital for achieving consistent business growth.
Offering discounts and loyalty schemes is usually a good way to satisfy customers. They may cost you money but the long-term payback of more business could be worth it.
Satisfied customers are more likely to recommend you to friends, family and neighbours. This type of referral business is the bedrock of many trade business successes.
How to get referral business
How do I get referrals for my business? Increasing your workload through referrals means taking matters into your own hands. Working out how you can get referrals from fellow tradespeople or your existing or past clients varies across different trades. However, with a bit of thought, you could see
Take advantage of business networking opportunities
Networking with other businesses and trade bodies can help you grow. You can catch up with what other trade businesses are doing. Learn from their successes.
Networking opportunities can include:
Talking to other tradespeople on an informal basis
Joining local business groups attended by other tradespeople
Joining your local Chamber of Commerce
Finding more trade job leads with Checkatrade
Embarking on a business growth journey can seem a bit daunting. But it needn't be if you’ve got support. Checkatrade members benefit from having us by their side as they expand.
Our members receive our help with new enquiries. For renewable energy businesses, these opportunities can be significant. In 2025 alone, we hadover 115,000 searches for renewable energy jobs on the Checkatrade website*.
There are lots of other benefits of Checkatrade membership too. They include:
Exclusive offers and discounts with suppliers like Tradepoint and Wickes
Reduced cost of workwear and branding
Guaranteed work when booked through us (T&Cs apply)
Dedicated trades apps for job management and quoting/invoicing
Our fixed membership option lets you build the plan that’s perfect for you and your business needs.
What do you need to become Checkatrade approved?
Find out what checks we carry out, the standards you’ll be asked to meet, what happens once you’re an approved Checkatrade member.
Key takeaways
Choosing how you want to grow your renewable energy business will influence your activity and planning
Make sure you have a flexible and robust business plan
Choose the ways you think will be best to achieve growth
A blend of actions can work best to help your business expand sustainably
One of the keys to growth is finding new sales leads
Joining Checkatrade as a member leads to cost-saving business benefits
Ready to expand your trade business?
Plan ahead for sustainable growth
* Internal search data from users of the Checkatrade.com website in 2025