Solar panels for farms in Newtown
Around Newtown 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.
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 NewtownIllustrative layout for a unit of this size. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
Farm building solar PV across Powys
What a farm roof near Newtown generates
Modelled irradiation at this latitude is 1045 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.
We survey holdings across the SY postcode area, starting from SY16.
Powys 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.
Newtown ranks 6 of 6 towns we cover in Powys on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 820 to 838, a spread of 18 kWh per kWp. Within Powys 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
Connections around Newtown are handled by National Grid Electricity Distribution, 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 Powys the planning database records 18 solar schemes totalling 39 MW, of which 1 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 Newtown
- What would a 500 kWp array produce on a farm near Newtown?
- Yes, and the figure matters more than the sunshine. At 820 kWh per kWp a year, a 500 kWp array on a Newtown holding models at around 410,000 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 Newtown?
- Applications go to National Grid Electricity Distribution, who run the network across Powys. 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 Powys 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 Powys before the design is finalised.