Solar panels for farms in Leicester
Around Leicester the constraint is rarely the roof. It is the incoming supply and what the network will accept back. 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.
874 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 500 kWp array models at about 437,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Book a roof survey in LeicesterIllustrative layout for a unit of this size. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
Farm building solar PV across Leicestershire
What a farm roof near Leicester generates
Modelled irradiation at this latitude is 1116 kWh per square metre a year in the plane of a shallow-pitched roof, which works out at 874 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.
We survey holdings across the LE postcode area, starting from LE1.
Leicester 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.
Leicester ranks 4 of 7 towns we cover in Leicestershire on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 863 to 891, a spread of 28 kWh per kWp. Within Leicestershire that difference is small enough to ignore: where the building sits is not what decides this scheme, your consumption pattern is.
Grid connection through National Grid Electricity Distribution
National Grid Electricity Distribution operates the distribution network across Leicestershire, 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.
Across Leicestershire the planning database records 165 solar schemes totalling 1259 MW, of which 37 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).
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 Leicester
- What would a 500 kWp array produce on a farm near Leicester?
- Yes, and the figure matters more than the sunshine. At 874 kWh per kWp a year, a 500 kWp array on a Leicester holding models at around 437,000 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 Leicester?
- Applications go to National Grid Electricity Distribution, who run the network across Leicestershire. 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 Leicester 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 Leicester before the design is finalised.