Solar panels for farms in the South East

This guide covers Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and the Home Counties. The South Coast has some of the strongest solar resource in Britain, and the region's fruit farms, glasshouses, arable holdings and equestrian yards all have daytime electricity loads.

A south-facing 30° roof near Chichester generates about 1,164 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 South East region at £1,409 per kW. By the end of July 2026 DESNZ counted 3,809 MW in the South East and 421 MW in London — 18% of the UK's 22,992 MW between them.

Farming and electricity use across the South East

Fruit growing in Kent and Sussex brings cold stores and packhouses that run through the harvest and storage season. Glasshouse and protected-crop growers use power for lighting, heating controls and irrigation pumps. Across the Home Counties, arable farms and livery or equestrian yards make up much of the rest.

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°.

Near Chichester, PVGIS gives a 30° roof about 147 kWh per kWp in June — the highest monthly figure of any town on our regional guides. 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 South East

DESNZ publishes installed prices for systems registered with MCS. For 2025/26 the mean for 10–50 kW systems in the South East region was £1,409 per kW across 1,735 installations. The London mean was £1,247 per kW across 567 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 South Downs and New Forest National Parks, and National Landscapes such as the Kent Downs, High Weald, Surrey Hills, Chilterns and North Wessex Downs, 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

UK Power Networks and SSEN share the South East, and the boundary between them runs through Surrey and West Sussex — places such as Chichester, Midhurst, Farnham and Haslemere are on SSEN's network rather than UK Power Networks'. 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 South East

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

• Fruit farms
• Glasshouse farms
• Arable farms
• Equestrian centres
• Vineyards

County guides

Questions about farm solar in the South East