About SolarPanelsForFarms.uk
Independent specialist guidance on agricultural solar PV, operated by SEO Dons Ltd, a UK renewable-energy research and marketing agency. We are not an installer — we publish the data you need to judge an installer's quote. How to choose an agricultural solar installer →
SolarPanelsForFarms.uk is the dedicated agricultural site of SEO Dons Ltd, covering farm businesses, rural estates and food producers across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Everything published here is written for one audience: a farm weighing up whether solar stacks up, and wanting the grant, tariff and cost numbers straight before an installer's salesperson gets involved.
Who we are
SEO Dons Ltd is run by Director Donovan Fawcett. Registered office: 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ. Company No. 16766013. We research UK farm solar economics — grants, capital allowances, export tariffs, planning rules and real installed costs — and publish what we find with sources and review dates. When you request a quote through this site, we reply by email.
Why farms need sector-specific guidance
Farms are the most demanding commercial solar category. Five reasons make them different:
- Building stock spans 60 years — modern portal-frame parlours, 1970s steel-frame general-purpose buildings, 1960s asbestos-cement barns, and Victorian listed stone structures often on the same holding. Which roofs work for solar, which need reinforcement and which need replacing first should be settled at survey, not after install.
- Energy demand is uniquely shaped — dairy's twice-daily peaks, poultry's 24/7 baseline, arable's August-October harvest spike, soft fruit's overnight pre-cooling. Sizing has to match the actual load curve, not the headline kWh figure.
- Grant rules are sector-specific — farm schemes have their own item lists and windows, and in 2026 none of them pays for solar panels. England's Improving Farm Productivity grant (up to 25% for rooftop solar) closed to full applications on 31 July 2025, the FETF 2026 window closed on 12 May 2026 without solar on its item lists, and no Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish grant pays for solar panels — Scotland's CARES scheme is for non-profit community groups, not farms.
- Planning is sector-specific — agricultural permitted development rights are broader than commercial. AONB and BMV land considerations are unique. Listed-building issues affect heritage farms differently.
- Tenant farmers are a large share of the market — and they need tripartite PPA structures, AHA improvement notices, or landlord-led installs. Generalist advice rarely covers this; the guides on this site do.
How the service works
Three steps, no obligation at any of them: (1) you tell us about the holding — location, roof space, rough annual electricity spend; (2) we reply by email; (3) you judge any proposal against the cost benchmarks published on this site. We give you the questions to ask and the numbers a good quote should beat.
We are independent of any installer and any manufacturer. We don't take a margin on hardware, we don't push one panel brand over another, and we'll tell you plainly when solar doesn't stack up for a site — a shaded north-facing roof or a holding with negligible daytime load can be a genuine "no".
Where our numbers come from
Every rate, grant figure and deadline on this site is sourced and dated: grant terms from Defra/RPA, Welsh Government, Scottish Government and DAERA scheme documents; export tariffs from supplier SEG pages (reviewed quarterly); tax treatment from HMRC capital-allowances guidance; and cost benchmarks from published UK install data. Where a figure is a forecast or varies by site, we say so. Data last reviewed July 2026.
What a good farm solar quote includes
Whichever installer you use, hold their proposal to this standard:
- ✓ Half-hourly meter data analysis — sizing from your actual load curve, not a generic estimate.
- ✓ Structural and asbestos assessment — asbestos-cement roofs are common on pre-1980s farm buildings and change the job completely.
- ✓ DNO application handled — G99 grid connection managed end-to-end, with export limits stated up front.
- ✓ Grant and tax position — no grant for farm solar panels is open in 2026, so the quote should not assume one; most farms can deduct the whole cost in year one through the £1 million Annual Investment Allowance.
- ✓ Warranties in writing — 25-year panel performance, 10-year inverter, workmanship cover backed by insurance so it survives the installer.
- ✓ A fixed price — not an estimate that grows at survey.