Solar panels for farms in Wales

Wales is livestock country: sheep and beef across the uplands of Powys, Ceredigion and Gwynedd, dairy in the south-west and the north-east, and mixed and arable farming on the lower ground of the south and the borders. Its planning rules for rooftop solar on farm buildings are among the most generous in the UK, and while there is no grant for panels, there is a Welsh Government loan at a fixed 3%.

A south-facing 30° roof near Carmarthen generates about 980 kWh per kWp a year on PVGIS and DESNZ's 2025/26 data put the mean installed price of a 10–50 kW system at £1,362 per kW. By the end of July 2026 DESNZ counted 1,774 MW of solar in Wales — 8% of the UK's 22,992 MW.

Farming and electricity use in Wales

Dairy farms carry the steadiest daytime loads — vacuum pumps, milk cooling and water heating every day of the year. Poultry sheds add ventilation and lighting. Sheep and beef farms use less electricity, so an array there is sized around a smaller demand, and remote holdings can find the grid connection, not the roof, sets the limit.

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.

On a 30° roof near Carmarthen, PVGIS gives about 125 kWh per kWp in June and 28 in December; near Welshpool, 119 and 26. Size against the months when the farm is using the power.

What farm solar costs in Wales

DESNZ publishes installed prices for systems registered with MCS. For 2025/26 the mean for 10–50 kW systems in Wales was £1,362 per kW across 538 installations, against a Great Britain-wide median of £1,262 for the same band. At that mean a 40 kW roof costs about £54,480. The figures include VAT where it was charged and exclude batteries; your own quote will move with roof type, access and grid work. See what agricultural solar panels cost for the national picture by size.

Planning in Wales

Wales has its own permitted development order. Part 43 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995, as it applies in Wales (inserted by SI 2012/2318 and amended by SI 2019/330), permits the installation, alteration or replacement of solar PV on a building other than a dwelling — with no generating-capacity limit and no prior-approval step. Panels must not protrude more than 20 cm beyond the plane of a wall or roof slope, or more than 1 m above a flat roof, and must stay 1 m from the roof edge. They are not permitted on a building in the curtilage of a listed building, on a scheduled monument, or within 3 km of an airport or aerodrome; in a National Park, a National Landscape, a conservation area or a World Heritage Site they cannot go on a wall or roof slope that fronts a highway. A single stand-alone array in the curtilage is permitted up to 9 m² of panels, 3 m in any dimension and 4 m high, at least 5 m from the boundary — anything bigger on the ground needs planning permission. Our guide to planning permission for farm solar covers the rules in England for comparison.

Grid connection

Two network operators serve Wales: National Grid Electricity Distribution in the south and SP Energy Networks in mid and north Wales. Check which serves your holding by postcode before budgeting for a connection. Systems rated above 16 A per phase (3.68 kW on a single-phase supply) need the operator's G99 approval before connection.

Grants and funding in Wales

No Welsh grant pays for solar panels on farms as of September 2026. Small Grants – Efficiency (last window January to February 2026; up to £15,000 at 40%) listed only a solar-powered fencing energiser and a solar-powered livestock water pump, and its successor, Capital Production and Efficiency (open from 28 July 2026 to March 2027; 40% of costs, £500 to £15,000 per business a year), lists the same two items and no solar PV. The Farm Business Grant and Sustainable Production Grant closed with the 2014–2020 Rural Development Programme, and the Sustainable Farming Scheme that began on 1 January 2026 has no solar or renewable-energy capital option.

What Wales does have is a loan. The Sustainable Agriculture Loan Scheme, run by the Development Bank of Wales as a one-year pilot from 1 July 2026, lends Welsh farm businesses £25,001 to £1 million at a fixed 3%, and its eligible uses include renewable energy generation for on-farm use. The bank's Green Business Loan Scheme (£1,000 to £1.5 million) also lists solar PV. Add capital allowances (UK-wide — see capital allowances for farm solar) and the Smart Export Guarantee, and see the UK-wide grants picture.

Farm types common here

• Sheep farms
• Livestock farms
• Dairy farms
• Poultry farms
• Mixed farms

Area guides

Questions about farm solar in Wales