Solar panels for farms in Leiston
The case for solar on a Leiston holding turns on how much of the output the farm uses itself, not on how much the roof makes. 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.
956 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 500 kWp array models at about 478,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Book a roof survey in LeistonIllustrative layout for a unit of this size. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
Farm building solar PV across Suffolk
What a farm roof near Leiston generates
Modelled irradiation at this latitude is 1216 kWh per square metre a year in the plane of a shallow-pitched roof, which works out at 956 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is around 8 percent above the mean across the areas we cover, which is as strong as UK farm rooftop gets outside the south coast.
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.
Leiston ranks 1 of 8 towns we cover in Suffolk on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 905 to 956, a spread of 51 kWh per kWp. On a 500 kWp array that is about 25,500 kWh a year between the strongest and weakest town in the county.
Grid connection through UK Power Networks
Connections around Leiston 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 Suffolk the planning database records 118 solar schemes totalling 1369 MW, of which 23 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 Leiston
- How much does a farm roof near Leiston generate?
- The model gives 956 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 500 kWp comes out at about 478,000 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 Leiston take the export?
- UK Power Networks is the distribution network operator for Suffolk. 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.