Solar panels for farms in the Midlands

This guide covers both Midlands regions — Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and the West Midlands county to the west; Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire to the east. The farming is mixed, and so are the roofs: modern portal-frame sheds, older steel-framed stores and traditional brick and stone ranges.

A south-facing 30° roof near Shrewsbury generates about 963 kWh per kWp a year on PVGIS, and DESNZ's 2025/26 data put the mean installed price of a 10–50 kW system in the West Midlands region at £1,316 per kW. By the end of July 2026 DESNZ counted 1,897 MW in the West Midlands and 2,653 MW in the East Midlands — 20% of the UK's 22,992 MW between them.

Farming and electricity use across the Midlands

Dairy and livestock dominate the west, where parlours, milk cooling and water heating draw power every day of the year. Horticulture and fruit growing in Worcestershire and Herefordshire add cold stores and packhouses, while the eastern counties are more arable, with grain stores and dryers. Poultry sheds are common in the western counties and are among the steadiest daytime loads on any farm.

What a farm roof generates here

These figures come from PVGIS, the European Commission's photovoltaic model (version 5.3, SARAH3 satellite data), for 1 kWp of crystalline panels facing due south with 14% system losses. Steep, pitched roofs suit a 30° row; many modern sheds are closer to 10°.

On a 30° roof near Shrewsbury, PVGIS gives about 121 kWh per kWp in June but only 28 in December — worth knowing before sizing an array around a winter-peaking dairy load. Set against your own meter data, those monthly figures show how much of the output your farm would use itself — and self-use, not export, is where most of the value comes from.

What farm solar costs in the Midlands

DESNZ publishes installed prices for systems registered with MCS. For 2025/26 the mean for 10–50 kW systems in the West Midlands region was £1,316 per kW across 757 installations. The East Midlands mean was £1,330 per kW across 878 installations. That is above the Great Britain-wide median of £1,262 per kW for the same size band. The figures include VAT where it was charged and exclude batteries.

For the national picture by system size, see what agricultural solar panels cost.

Planning: rooftop solar is usually permitted development

In England, solar panels on a farm building's roof are normally permitted development under Class J of Part 14 of the General Permitted Development Order, with no capacity limit since December 2023. Panels must stay within 0.2 m of a pitched roof's surface and at least 1 m from the roof edge; systems above 50 kW need the council's prior approval on design and glare before work starts. Listed buildings and scheduled monuments are excluded. The Peak District National Park and National Landscapes such as the Shropshire Hills, Malvern Hills, Cannock Chase and part of the Cotswolds are protected land under article 2(3) of the order, where Class J does not allow panels on a wall that fronts a highway. A small free-standing array of up to 9 m² may fall under Class K; anything bigger on the ground needs a planning application. The detail is in our guide to planning permission for farm solar.

Grid connection

National Grid Electricity Distribution runs most of the Midlands network through its West Midlands and East Midlands licence areas, but other operators serve parts of the border counties, so check by postcode. Check which operator serves your holding by postcode before budgeting for a connection. A system rated above 16 A per phase (3.68 kW on a single-phase supply) falls outside the simple G98 notification route and needs the operator's G99 approval before it is connected, and a large array on a rural line may be offered an export limit.

Grants and tax relief in the Midlands

No England grant for farm solar is open as of September 2026. Round 2 of the Improving Farm Productivity grant — £15,000 to £100,000 for solar on farm-building roofs or irrigation reservoirs, never for ground-mounted arrays — has closed, and Defra has not announced another round. The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund has closed too. What still works is tax relief: see how capital allowances work for farm solar, and the full, dated picture of farm solar funding across all four UK nations.

Farm types common here

• Dairy farms
• Poultry farms
• Fruit farms
• Horticultural farms
• Mixed farms

County guides

Questions about farm solar in the Midlands