Is there enough sun around Porthmadog to make this work?

Modelled at 820 kWh per kWp a year for a shallow-pitched roof at this latitude, which puts a 500 kWp array at roughly 410,000 kWh a year before shading. That array needs about 1,485 sqm of clear roof once ridge vents and walkways are allowed for. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

Who do we apply to for export near Porthmadog?

Only SP Energy Networks can answer it for your connection, and on rural feeders the answer varies farm to farm. An export-limited offer usually still works, because a holding with grain drying, cooling or ventilation uses most of what it makes.

Solar panels for farms in Porthmadog

A Porthmadog farm buys electricity at the worst rate of the day in exactly the hours its roof could be generating. Each survey records the sheet type and condition, the usable area once rooflights and vents come out, and whether the supply is single or three phase.

820 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 500 kWp array models at about 410,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

Book a roof survey in Porthmadog

Drawing Porthmadog unit

Roof 96 x 62 m

Array 500 kWp

Yield 410,000 kWh/yr

Scale 1:500 / Rev A / Gwynedd

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

Porthmadog / Gwynedd

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 Gwynedd.

Farm building solar PV across Gwynedd

What a farm roof near Porthmadog generates

Modelled irradiation at this latitude is 1044 kWh per square metre a year in the plane of a shallow-pitched roof, which works out at 820 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is about 7 percent below the mean across the areas we cover, so the case here rests on using the output on the holding rather than exporting it.

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 Porthmadog roof makes, month by month

May produces 8.5 times what Dec does on the same roof. A 500 kWp array here models at about 410,000 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	18	9,000
Feb	35	17,500
Mar	68	34,000
Apr	101	50,500
May	119	59,500
Jun	119	59,500
Jul	113	56,500
Aug	94	47,000
Sep	72	36,000
Oct	43	21,500
Nov	23	11,500
Dec	14	7,000

Source: EU PVGIS v5.2

FIG. 2 Porthmadog against the rest of Gwynedd

Pwllheli887
Porthmadog820
Caernarfon798
Dolgellau746
Bangor733
Bethesda704

Porthmadog ranks 2 of 6 towns we cover in Gwynedd on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 704 to 887, a spread of 183 kWh per kWp. On a 500 kWp array that is about 91,500 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 SP Energy Networks

SP Energy Networks is the network operator here, and their answer on export capacity shapes the design. Any commercial array above 3.68 kW per phase connects under G99 rather than G98, and the application fixes what you are allowed to push back onto the network. If the local network is tight, limiting export rarely breaks the case here: most of the generation is consumed on site while the building is working.

Across Gwynedd the planning database records 19 solar schemes totalling 221 MW, of which 6 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 Porthmadog

Is there enough sun around Porthmadog to make this work?: Modelled at 820 kWh per kWp a year for a shallow-pitched roof at this latitude, which puts a 500 kWp array at roughly 410,000 kWh a year before shading. That array needs about 1,485 sqm of clear roof once ridge vents and walkways are allowed for. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Who do we apply to for export near Porthmadog?: Only SP Energy Networks can answer it for your connection, and on rural feeders the answer varies farm to farm. An export-limited offer usually still works, because a holding with grain drying, cooling or ventilation uses most of what it makes.