This guide covers Cumbria, Lancashire and Cheshire. It is dairy and livestock country, wetter and cloudier than the east of England, which lowers solar output — but the region's milking parlours use electricity every day of the year, so a well-sized array still does useful work.
A south-facing 30° roof near Carlisle generates about 905 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 North West region at £1,347 per kW. By the end of July 2026 DESNZ counted 1,070 MW of solar in the North West — 5% of the UK's 22,992 MW.
Farming and electricity use across the North West
Dairy farms in Cheshire and Lancashire run vacuum pumps, milk cooling and water heating twice a day, 365 days a year. Upland farms in the Lake District fells and the Pennines are mostly beef and sheep, with smaller electricity loads and more remote grid connections. For both, output matters most in the months when it matches demand.
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°.
| Location | 30° roof (kWh/kWp/yr) | 10° roof (kWh/kWp/yr) | June, 30° (kWh/kWp) | December, 30° (kWh/kWp) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlisle | 905 | 824 | 117 | 23 |
| Lancaster | 908 | 831 | 118 | 23 |
Source: PVGIS v5.3 (EU Joint Research Centre), queried 26–27 September 2026. A low 10° roof gives up about 9% of the annual output of a 30° roof near Carlisle.
Near Carlisle, PVGIS gives a 30° roof about 117 kWh per kWp in June and 23 in December — a five-fold swing, so size an array against summer self-use and treat winter output as a bonus. 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 North West
DESNZ publishes installed prices for systems registered with MCS. For 2025/26 the mean for 10–50 kW systems in the North West region was £1,347 per kW across 815 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.
| DESNZ region | Mean price, 10–50 kW (per kW) | Installations in sample | A 40 kW roof at that mean |
|---|---|---|---|
| North West | £1,347 | 815 | £53,880 |
Source: DESNZ, Solar PV cost data 2025/26 (published May 2026). Arithmetic on the published means; your quote will differ with roof type, access and grid work.
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 Lake District (a National Park and World Heritage Site), part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and National Landscapes such as Arnside and Silverdale, the Forest of Bowland and the Solway Coast 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
Electricity North West and SP Energy Networks both operate in these counties, and the boundary between them does not follow county lines. 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 North West
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
County guides
Cumbria
Farm solar in Cumbria →
Lancashire
Farm solar in Lancashire →
Cheshire
Farm solar in Cheshire →
Questions about farm solar in the North West
How much do farm solar panels cost in the North West?
DESNZ's Solar PV cost data for 2025/26 puts the mean installed price of 10–50 kW systems at £1,347 per kW across 815 installations in the North West region (including VAT where charged, excluding batteries). At that mean, a 40 kW barn roof costs about £53,880. Larger systems usually cost less per kW.
How much electricity does a farm roof generate in the North West?
PVGIS, the European Commission's solar model, gives about 905 kWh per kWp a year for a south-facing 30° roof near Carlisle and 824 kWh on a 10° shed roof. So a 40 kW array on a 30° roof there produces roughly 36,200 kWh a year.
Is there a farm solar grant in the North West?
Not as of September 2026. Round 2 of England's Improving Farm Productivity grant, which paid £15,000 to £100,000 for solar on farm-building roofs or irrigation reservoirs, has closed and no further round has been announced. The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund has also closed. Tax relief through capital allowances still applies.