Cornwall solar firm ZLC Energy up for three national awards

Three shortlists, three chances to be named the best in the country, and every one of them belongs to a company that started out fitting solar panels in Cornwall.

📷Credit: ZLC Energy

Shortlisted in every category entered

A Cornwall-based renewable energy company has been shortlisted for three national awards, recognising its solar energy projects and investment in local talent.

ZLC Energy, founded and based in Cornwall, has been shortlisted in every category it entered at the 2026 National Energy Efficiency Awards: National Solar Installer of the Year, National Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Project of the Year, and National Apprentice of the Year.

📷Credit: ZLC Energy

The hospital project saving £750,000 a year

The company’s National Solar PV Project of the Year nomination recognises its work at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where the solar installation now saves an estimated £750,000 a year that can be redirected to frontline services.

📷Credit: ZLC Energy

An apprentice recognised nationally

ZLC Energy apprentice Raman Mustafa has also been shortlisted for National Apprentice of the Year, recognising his professional development and growing contribution to the company’s projects.

📷Credit: ZLC Energy

What the recognition means for Cornwall

Director Mark Smith said: “We are incredibly proud to be representing Cornwall at a national level. To be shortlisted for three national awards shows that a Cornish business can develop outstanding people and deliver complex projects that compete with the very best in our industry.”

Compliance Manager Rob Welch added: “Seeing Raman recognised nationally makes me particularly proud. He has taken on increasing responsibility and earned the respect of the people working alongside him. This is exactly what we want national recognition to mean for Cornwall: young people building ambitious, skilled careers here.”

The winners will be announced at the National Energy Efficiency Awards ceremony at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on Friday 9 October 2026.

📷Credit: ZLC Energy