What would a 500 kWp array produce on a farm near Peterborough?

Yes, and the figure matters more than the sunshine. At 898 kWh per kWp a year, a 500 kWp array on a Peterborough holding models at around 449,000 kWh. What changes the answer is how much of that the farm uses itself. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

Which network operator handles the connection around Peterborough?

Applications go to UK Power Networks, who run the network across Cambridgeshire. On a farm the incoming supply matters as much as their answer: a single phase supply caps what can be installed whatever the roof would take.

What does Peterborough require for solar on an agricultural building?

Roof-mounted panels on an agricultural building often fall under permitted development, subject to limits on projection above the roof plane and to the building not being listed or in a conservation area or National Park. We confirm the position with Peterborough before the design is finalised.

Has anyone near PE3 already done this?

The planning database records 0 ground mounted and 5 roof mounted solar schemes in this postcode district. That matters less as proof it works and more as evidence of how the local network has treated export applications. Roof arrays under a megawatt often never appear in the database, so the real figure is higher. Source: Renewable Energy Planning Database, Q1 2026.

Solar panels for farms in Peterborough

Most holdings around Peterborough already own the best generating site they will ever have, and it is the roof of the shed they built for something else. The survey starts on the covering: fibre cement or steel, its remaining life, the purlin spacing and what the frame will carry.

898 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 500 kWp array models at about 449,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

Book a roof survey in Peterborough

Drawing Peterborough unit

Roof 96 x 62 m

Array 500 kWp

Yield 449,000 kWh/yr

Scale 1:500 / Rev A / PE3

Illustrative layout for a unit of this size. Your own figures come from the roof survey.

Peterborough / Cambridgeshire

Eastern arable farmland with solar arrays on farm buildings — Industrial stock of the kind we survey across East of England.

Solar for agricultural buildings across Cambridgeshire

What a farm roof near Peterborough generates

Modelled irradiation at this latitude is 1149 kWh per square metre a year in the plane of a shallow-pitched roof, which works out at 898 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That sits within a few percent of the mean across the areas we cover, so what decides the scheme is your own demand pattern rather than the latitude.

5 roof mounted schemes are on record nearby. Roof arrays under a megawatt frequently never reach that database at all, so the real number of farm roofs generating around Peterborough is higher than the record shows.

Surveys run across PE postcodes, PE3 outward.

Peterborough is the planning authority for most holdings here, and it is the authority that decides whether an array on an agricultural building falls inside permitted development.

FIG. 1 What a Peterborough roof makes, month by month

Jul produces 5.9 times what Dec does on the same roof. A 500 kWp array here models at about 449,000 kWh across the year, but it arrives unevenly, which is why we size against your summer daytime load and then look at whether storage is worth adding for the shoulder months.

Monthly figures as a table

Month	kWh per kWp	500 kWp array
Jan	24	12,000
Feb	39	19,500
Mar	73	36,500
Apr	103	51,500
May	122	61,000
Jun	122	61,000
Jul	124	62,000
Aug	106	53,000
Sep	83	41,500
Oct	51	25,500
Nov	31	15,500
Dec	21	10,500

Source: EU PVGIS v5.2

FIG. 2 Peterborough against the rest of Cambridgeshire

Huntingdon908
Cambridge906
St Ives906
Wisbech905
Ely904
March900
Peterborough898
St Neots898

Peterborough ranks 7 of 8 towns we cover in Cambridgeshire on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 898 to 908, a spread of 10 kWh per kWp. Within Cambridgeshire that difference is small enough to ignore: where the building sits is not what decides this scheme, your consumption pattern is.

Bars are zero based, so length is proportional to the figure. Where a county is flat, that is the finding: location is not the lever, consumption is. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, modelled per town

Solar already consented near PE3

From the government's Renewable Energy Planning Database, Q1 2026. These are the schemes on record in this postcode district, which is a fair guide to how the local network has been treating export applications.

Scheme	Operator	Capacity	Mounting	Status
F P Smith Motors, Sturrock Way - Solar PV System	FP Smith Holdings Limited	0.2 MW	Roof	Awaiting Construction
David Lloyd Clubs, Thorpe Wood - Solar Panels	David Lloyd Leisure Limited	n/a	Roof	Awaiting Construction
Coningsby Business Park, Stirling Way - Solar Panels	Industrials Propco 1 Limited	1.3 MW	Roof	Awaiting Construction
Stirling Way, Bretton - Solar Panels	Industrials Propco 1 Limited	0.25 MW	Roof	Awaiting Construction
Coningsby Business Park, Stirling Way - Solar Panels	Indurent PropCo B1 Limited	0.3 MW	Roof	Awaiting Construction

Grid connection through UK Power Networks

Connections around Peterborough are handled by UK Power Networks, which sets the export limit for the site. Above 3.68 kW per phase the connection runs under G99, so the export limit is agreed in advance rather than assumed. Where the local network is constrained, an export-limited connection usually still makes the scheme work, because a farm uses most of what the roof makes during the working day.

Across Cambridgeshire the planning database records 172 solar schemes totalling 2422 MW, of which 46 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).

Book the survey

Send us the postcode

Tell us where the unit is and roughly how big the roof is. We come back with what it can carry, what it would generate against your consumption, and the three ways to pay for it.

Lenzie Consulting Ltd arranges the survey and passes your details to our MCS-certified installation partner so they can quote.

Questions about solar in Peterborough

What would a 500 kWp array produce on a farm near Peterborough?: Yes, and the figure matters more than the sunshine. At 898 kWh per kWp a year, a 500 kWp array on a Peterborough holding models at around 449,000 kWh. What changes the answer is how much of that the farm uses itself. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Which network operator handles the connection around Peterborough?: Applications go to UK Power Networks, who run the network across Cambridgeshire. On a farm the incoming supply matters as much as their answer: a single phase supply caps what can be installed whatever the roof would take.
What does Peterborough require for solar on an agricultural building?: Roof-mounted panels on an agricultural building often fall under permitted development, subject to limits on projection above the roof plane and to the building not being listed or in a conservation area or National Park. We confirm the position with Peterborough before the design is finalised.
Has anyone near PE3 already done this?: The planning database records 0 ground mounted and 5 roof mounted solar schemes in this postcode district. That matters less as proof it works and more as evidence of how the local network has treated export applications. Roof arrays under a megawatt often never appear in the database, so the real figure is higher. Source: Renewable Energy Planning Database, Q1 2026.

Nearby

All Cambridgeshire locations