Updated 26 September 2026. Published by SolarPanelsForFarms.uk (SEO Dons Ltd), an independent publisher: we don't sell modules or install them.
Search for agricultural solar panels and you will find plenty of sellers and very few specifications. That is because no UK regulation defines an "agricultural" module. A farm installation uses the same crystalline silicon panels as a warehouse or a school — the difference is the environment they sit in for 25 years or more, and the roofs they sit on. A dairy's cubicle shed breathes ammonia over the array; a grain store on the Norfolk coast gets salt air; a 1960s general-purpose building may be clad in asbestos cement that cannot take a person's weight. This page sets out what to ask for so the panels on your quote are genuinely fit for the farm.
What makes a solar panel suitable for a farm?
Three things separate a module that will last on a farm from one that merely fits: the corrosion tests it has passed for the specific environment, how it will be mounted to the roof you actually have, and whether the whole system is designed around how the farm uses electricity. The first two are covered below; the third is about sizing, which your installer should do from half-hourly meter data rather than roof area alone.
Ammonia resistance: IEC 62716
Ammonia is released from manure and slurry in cattle, pig and poultry housing, and it is corrosive to metal frames, junction boxes and the materials inside a module. The international standard for testing this is IEC 62716:2013, "Photovoltaic (PV) modules – Ammonia corrosion testing", published by the IEC on 27 June 2013. Its scope describes test sequences "useful to determine the resistance of PV modules to ammonia" in wet atmospheres, built on procedures from the core module standards.
TÜV Rheinland, one of the laboratories that certifies to the standard, describes the test as relevant to systems "on the roofs of livestock buildings". It runs 20 cycles over 480 hours, and a module passes only if it shows no obvious visual defects and loses no more than 5% of its maximum output. Two practical rules follow:
- ✓ Ask for the certificate, not a marketing badge — and check it names the exact module series and power class on your quote.
- ✓ Apply it to every building near livestock — not just the animal housing itself, because ammonia drifts to neighbouring roofs in a yard.
Salt mist: IEC 61701 for coastal farms
Farms within reach of sea air — much of Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coasts, the Scottish north-east — should also ask for IEC 61701 salt mist corrosion certification. TÜV Rheinland's regime for IEC 61701:2020 runs 8 cycles of 7 days (56 days), with the same pass criteria as the ammonia test: no obvious visual defects and output within 5% of the starting measurement.
Mounting to agricultural roof sheeting
The module is only as good as its fixings. Agricultural roofs come in three broad types, and each needs a different mounting approach:
Profiled steel
The easiest host. Rails clamp to the trapezoidal profile or fix through into purlins with sealed fixings. The structural check is about the frame, not the sheet.
Insulated composite panels
Common on poultry and pig units. Fixings must respect the panel manufacturer's guidance so the insulated core and vapour seal stay intact.
Fibre / asbestos cement
HSE: asbestos cement roofs "are always fragile and cannot bear weight", and drilling through AC should be avoided. Overclad onto the purlins or re-sheet first — see solar panels on asbestos roofs.
Whichever roof it is, the installer should give you a written structural statement covering dead load and wind uplift, and a method for safe access. Our guide to solar panels on farm buildings covers the survey and the planning limits in detail.
What agricultural solar panels generate in the UK
Module efficiency differences between reputable brands are small next to the effect of location and tilt. The European Commission's PVGIS gives these annual yields for a south-facing, rack-mounted array at 30° (SARAH3 data 2005–2023, 14% system losses, queried 26 September 2026):
| Farming area | kWh per kWp per year | A 50 kWp array (kWh/yr) |
|---|---|---|
| Exeter, Devon | 1,045 | 52,250 |
| Peterborough, Cambridgeshire | 1,026 | 51,300 |
| Shrewsbury, Shropshire | 963 | 48,150 |
| York, North Yorkshire | 960 | 48,000 |
| Aberdeen, north-east Scotland | 877 | 43,850 |
The right-hand column is simple multiplication (50 × the PVGIS yield), shown so you can sanity-check a quote. If an installer's generation estimate for your postcode sits well above PVGIS, ask how they got it.
Paying for agricultural solar panels in 2026
Solar panels are special rate expenditure under section 104A(1)(g) of the Capital Allowances Act 2001, which governs the tax relief available. The Annual Investment Allowance (£1 million a year) can relieve the whole cost in the year of purchase; companies can alternatively claim the 50% first-year allowance on new and unused special-rate assets, with the balance in the special rate pool at 6% a year. On grants, England's Improving Farm Productivity scheme funded 25% of solar on farm building rooftops and irrigation reservoirs — never ground-based arrays — but round 2 is closed. See farm solar grants for the position in each nation.
A checklist for the quote
- 1. Module make, series and power class — plus the IEC 62716 certificate (livestock) and IEC 61701 certificate (coastal) for that series.
- 2. The product warranty and the performance warranty as separate items, with who honours them if the installer ceases trading.
- 3. The mounting system named for your roof sheeting, with the structural statement.
- 4. A yield estimate you can reconcile to PVGIS for your postcode.
- 5. MCS certification for the installation, and the G98/G99 grid route.