The Biggest Solar Farms in the UK in 2026

Updated 26 September 2026. Sources: the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) Q2 2026 extract, published 3 August 2026, and DESNZ solar deployment statistics to the end of July 2026, published 27 August 2026.

The largest operational solar farms in the UK

These are all eight operational UK solar farms of 50 MW or more in the REPD Q2 2026 extract. Only one passes 100 MW. For context, the median ground-mounted solar farm in the database is 5 MW.

Capacity is the installed capacity recorded in the REPD (MWelec); site area is the REPD solar site area where one is recorded. Source: DESNZ, Renewable Energy Planning Database, Q2 2026 extract.

Why so many UK solar farms stop at 49.9 MW

Below the top eight there is a wall: 16 operational solar farms in England sit between 49 and 50 MW, and 13 of them at exactly 49.9 MW. That is the planning system at work. Under the Planning Act 2008, a solar farm in England above 50 MW was a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP), decided by the Secretary of State through a development consent order. Stopping at 49.9 MW kept a scheme with the local council instead.

That line has now moved. The Infrastructure Planning (Onshore Wind and Solar Generation) Order 2025 raised the threshold for onshore solar in England to more than 100 MW from 31 December 2025, so schemes up to 100 MW now go through the local planning authority. For landowners, that means larger sites than before can be decided locally. Our guide to planning permission for farm solar covers the local route.

The biggest solar farm in each UK nation

Scotland's figure looks small because its solar is mostly rooftop and small ground-mount: the REPD lists 41 operational solar projects in Scotland totalling about 85 MW, while DESNZ counts 920 MW of solar of all sizes there. For Scottish farms, see our guide to farm solar in Scotland.

Solar farms under construction

The largest solar farms recorded as under construction in the REPD Q2 2026 extract. Once operational, the Cowley Complex would become the second-largest operational solar farm in the UK on current records.

The largest consented solar farms still to be built

The real giants are consented but not yet built. Between them, the fifteen largest in the REPD come to about 6.8 GW — more than half of the capacity of every operational solar farm in the database combined (about 11.1 GW across 1,407 projects). Seven are in Lincolnshire, and two of them, Cottam and West Burton, share their names with former coal-fired power stations on the River Trent.

Consent date = the REPD "planning permission granted" date. Site area is the REPD solar site area, which for these projects usually includes land within the consented boundary used for access, cabling, mitigation and biodiversity.

The biggest proposals still in planning

At the extract date, the largest solar applications awaiting a decision were:

• • Botley West Solar Project, Oxfordshire — 840 MW (application submitted Nov 2024)
• • The Tween Bridge Solar Farm, South Yorkshire — 800 MW (application submitted Aug 2025)
• • Great North Road Solar Park, Nottinghamshire — 800 MW (application submitted Jun 2025)
• • Whitestone Solar Farm, South Yorkshire — 750 MW (application submitted Jul 2026)
• • Green Hill Solar Farm, Northamptonshire — 600 MW (application submitted Jun 2025)
• • Lime Down Solar Project, Wiltshire — 500 MW (application submitted Oct 2025)

Status can change after the extract date; the Planning Inspectorate's project pages carry live decisions.

How much solar the UK has

Large solar farms are only part of the picture. DESNZ's deployment statistics, which add rooftop systems to the planning records, provisionally put the UK at 23.0 GW of solar capacity across about 2,105,000 installations at the end of July 2026 — up 1.9 GW (8.8%) in a year, with 286,000 installations in the previous twelve months, the most in any 12-month period. The 2.6 GW added in 2025 was the highest annual figure since 2015.

At least 8.8 GW (38%) of UK solar is ground-mounted or standalone, and DESNZ estimates that ground-mount makes up roughly 59% of all capacity once unaccredited sites are included. The government's Solar Roadmap (June 2025) aims to take the UK from over 18 GW at the time to 45–47 GW by 2030, and estimates that would use up to 0.4% of total UK land.

UK solar capacity by region

Two views of the same map. The first column counts all solar of every size (DESNZ, July 2026); the second and third count only the operational projects in the planning database — the solar farms.

Sources: DESNZ, Solar photovoltaics deployment in the UK, Table 4 (cumulative capacity, July 2026); REPD Q2 2026 (operational solar PV projects by region). The South West leads on both measures.

How much land a solar farm needs

The planning database records a site area for most solar farms, which makes it possible to measure land use directly. Across 640 operational ground-mounted solar farms of 5 MW or more, the median is 2.19 hectares per MW (about 5.4 acres), and half of them fall between 1.82 and 2.58 hectares per MW. On that median, a typical 5 MW farm uses about 11 hectares (27 acres) and a 49.9 MW farm about 109 hectares.

Layouts vary: Cleve Hill fits 373 MW on about 364 hectares, close to 1 hectare per MW, while wider row spacing for grazing or for keeping land in production pushes the figure up. For what a landowner earns from hosting a solar farm, see solar farm income per acre; for keeping sheep on the same land, see agrivoltaics in the UK.

What this means for a farm

Almost every solar farm in these tables sits on farmland, usually leased to a developer for decades. For most farms, though, the decision is smaller and closer to home: whether to put an array on a barn roof, a field corner or a paddock to cut the farm's own bill. Three routes are worth comparing before signing anything:

• • Rooftop solar on farm buildings — usually permitted development and the cheapest place to start; see solar panels on farm buildings.
• • A farm-scale ground-mount array for the farm's own use — needs planning permission and a grid connection; see ground-mounted solar panels for farms.
• • Leasing land for a solar farm — rent without capital outlay, but the land is tied up for the lease term; see 1-acre solar farm economics.

Sources

• • DESNZ, Renewable Energy Planning Database, Q2 2026 extract (published 3 August 2026).
• • DESNZ, Solar photovoltaics deployment in the UK, July 2026 data (published 27 August 2026).
• • The Infrastructure Planning (Onshore Wind and Solar Generation) Order 2025, S.I. 2025/694, legislation.gov.uk.
• • DESNZ, Solar Roadmap: United Kingdom powered by solar (30 June 2025).

Related reading

• • 1-acre solar farm UK — cost, output and income
• • Agrivoltaics UK — farming under solar panels
• • Could agrivoltaics power the UK? What the evidence says
• • Solar panels on farm buildings
• • Farm solar grants UK — what is open and closed