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Solar panels for farms in Richmond

The case for solar on a Richmond holding turns on how much of the output the farm uses itself, not on how much the roof makes. What decides a farm scheme here is the state of the roof sheets and the incoming supply, which is why the survey looks at both before anyone sizes an array.

910 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 500 kWp array models at about 455,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

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96 m phase 1
Drawing Richmond unit
Roof 96 x 62 m
Array 500 kWp
Yield 455,000 kWh/yr
Scale 1:500 / Rev A / Greater London

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

Richmond / Greater London
A modern steel framed agricultural building with its roof covered in solar panels, tractor and trailer in the yard, fields beyond
Industrial stock of the kind we survey across Greater London.

Agricultural rooftop solar across Greater London

What a farm roof near Richmond generates

Modelled irradiation at this latitude is 1169 kWh per square metre a year in the plane of a shallow-pitched roof, which works out at 910 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.

No solar scheme is recorded in this postcode district in the planning database. On a farm that usually means nothing has been built above the reporting threshold rather than that nothing has been built, because a roof array on a shed rarely appears in it.

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

What a Richmond roof makes, month by month

Modelled output per kWp installed, for a shallow-pitched south-facing array. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2.

050100Jan: 26 kWh per kWpJanFeb: 39 kWh per kWpFebMar: 73 kWh per kWpMarApr: 105 kWh per kWpAprMay: 120 kWh per kWpMayJun: 125 kWh per kWpJunJul: 126 kWh per kWpJul126 kWh Aug: 106 kWh per kWpAugSep: 83 kWh per kWpSepOct: 52 kWh per kWpOctNov: 31 kWh per kWpNovDec: 22 kWh per kWpDec

Jul produces 5.7 times what Dec does on the same roof. A 500 kWp array here models at about 455,000 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
MonthkWh per kWp500 kWp array
Jan2613,000
Feb3919,500
Mar7336,500
Apr10552,500
May12060,000
Jun12562,500
Jul12663,000
Aug10653,000
Sep8341,500
Oct5226,000
Nov3115,500
Dec2211,000
Source: EU PVGIS v5.2
FIG. 2 Richmond against the rest of Greater London
  • Woolwich912
  • Fulham910
  • Hammersmith910
  • Hounslow910
  • Richmond910
  • Barking909
  • Ilford909
  • Battersea908
  • Bromley908

Richmond ranks 8 of 50 towns we cover in Greater London on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 847 to 987, a spread of 140 kWh per kWp. On a 500 kWp array that is about 70,000 kWh a year between the strongest and weakest town in the county.

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

Grid connection through UK Power Networks

UK Power Networks operates the distribution network across Greater London, so the export application goes to them. Anything larger than 3.68 kW per phase falls under G99, which means an application before commissioning rather than a notification afterwards. A constrained network is not the end of a scheme. Capping export costs little when the building already absorbs most of what the roof produces.

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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.

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Questions about solar in Richmond

How much does a farm roof near Richmond generate?
The model gives 910 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 500 kWp comes out at about 455,000 kWh a year before shading losses. A building of roughly 1,485 sqm of clear roof carries it. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Will the rural network around Richmond take the export?
UK Power Networks is the distribution network operator for Greater London. Anything above 3.68 kW per phase connects under G99, and the application sets the export limit. Rural supplies are often the binding constraint, so we ask the question before an array is sized.