Ground Mounted Solar Panels for UK Farms

When a ground mount beats a barn roof

For most farms the roofs come first: panels on a barn or shed usually need no planning application, no foundations, no fencing and no land. Our guide to solar panels on farm buildings covers that route. A ground-mounted array earns its place when:

• • The roofs are unsuitable — asbestos cement sheeting, a weak or ageing structure, shading, or a listed building outside permitted development.
• • The load is bigger than the roofs — an irrigation pump, grain dryer or cold store drawing more than the available roof area can supply.
• • You want the best yield per panel — a ground mount can face due south at the optimum angle, where many farm roofs are shallow or face east–west.
• • You want the land to keep working — sheep can graze between and beneath the rows; see agrivoltaics in the UK.

How much a ground-mounted array produces

Because a ground mount is not tied to a roof, it can be set at the best tilt for the site. These are EU PVGIS figures for south-facing panels at the optimum angle, with 14% system losses, and what a 100 kWp farm array would make at each:

Source: PVGIS v5.3 (EU Joint Research Centre), SARAH3 radiation data, crystalline silicon, rack-mounted, due south, 14% system losses; queried 26 September 2026. The 100 kWp column is simple multiplication.

Near York the optimum-tilt figure is about 12% higher than a shallow 10° barn roof (974 against 868 kWh per kWp). The gain is real, but it has to be weighed against the extra cost of foundations, fencing and cable trenching, which is why a ground mount is usually chosen for space or load rather than yield alone. For how output swings through the year, see whether solar panels can power a whole farm.

How much land a ground-mounted array needs

The government's Renewable Energy Planning Database records a site area for most solar farms. Across 640 operational ground-mounted solar farms of 5 MW or more in the Q2 2026 extract, the median is 2.19 hectares per MW (half fall between 1.82 and 2.58 ha per MW). Applied to farm-scale arrays:

Wider row spacing for grazing, access tracks and screening all push the figure up; a dense layout pushes it down. Our list of the biggest solar farms in the UK shows how the largest schemes compare.

Planning permission for ground-mounted solar

Permitted development barely applies. In England, stand-alone solar on non-domestic land is covered by Class K of Part 14 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015, which allows a single array per curtilage with no more than 9 m² of panels, no dimension over 3 m, a maximum height of 4 m and a 5 m gap to the boundary, and excludes listed buildings and scheduled monuments. That is roughly one small array — not a farm system.

Everything larger needs full planning permission from the local planning authority, up to 100 MW. Since 31 December 2025, S.I. 2025/694 has made onshore solar in England a nationally significant infrastructure project only above 100 MW (the threshold was previously 50 MW). Three planning issues decide most farm applications:

• • Land grade. Best and most versatile (BMV) land is grades 1, 2 and 3a. The Solar Roadmap (June 2025) says lower-quality land should be preferred and that proposals on BMV land must justify it and avoid, mitigate and, where necessary, compensate for impacts. Councils must consult Natural England on proposals likely to lose 20 hectares or more of BMV land that are not in line with the development plan.
• • Landscape and neighbours. Screening, glint and glare, and views from footpaths and homes are the usual objections, especially in a National Landscape (AONB) or near listed buildings.
• • Continuing farm use and biodiversity. A documented grazing or cropping plan, and ground cover that delivers Biodiversity Net Gain, strengthen the case.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own planning systems. For the full process, see our guide to planning permission for farm solar.

Grid connection

Every array needs the local network operator's agreement before it connects. The simple G98 notification route is limited to 16 A per phase — about 3.68 kW per phase — so practically every farm ground mount goes through a G99 application, and a large array may need network reinforcement at the farm's cost. Ask for the connection study early: it can decide the size of the array. Our guide to G98 and G99 for farm solar sets out the steps.

Foundations and mounting

Ground-mounted frames sit on driven steel piles, ground screws or concrete ballast. Piles and screws suit most soils and come out at the end of the array's life; ballast is used where the ground cannot be penetrated. A geotechnical check before design decides which applies. Fixed south-facing frames are the norm on UK farms; east–west and single-axis tracking layouts exist but change both the yield profile and the cost, so ask for them to be modelled side by side.

What a ground mount costs, and how to pay for it

Government cost statistics cover small systems only: DESNZ's 2025/26 data put the median installed cost of a 10–50 kW solar system at about £1,262 per kW (MCS-certified installations in Great Britain, including VAT where applicable, excluding batteries), and they do not separate ground mounts from roofs. Compared with a roof array of the same size, a ground mount adds foundations, fencing, cable trenching to the supply point and any grid reinforcement, so get at least three itemised quotes that price those lines separately.

• • Tax. Solar panels are special rate expenditure under section 104A(1)(g) of the Capital Allowances Act 2001; the £1m Annual Investment Allowance can relieve the full cost in the year of purchase for most farm businesses. Full expensing does not apply.
• • Grants. England's Improving Farm Productivity grant funded rooftop and irrigation-reservoir solar only — never ground mounts — and round 2 has closed. See farm solar grants for the current position.
• • Business rates. Solar plant is excepted from rateable value in England until 1 April 2035 where most of the power is used on the premises; an array over 10 kW that mainly exports is normally a separate hereditament. See farm solar and business rates.
• • Owning vs leasing. Leasing land to a solar developer is a different business from owning an array for the farm's own use; see solar farm income per acre.

What to ask for in a ground-mount quote

1. Array size justified from 12 months of half-hourly meter data, not the size of the field.
2. A PVGIS or equivalent yield model for the actual site, tilt and row spacing.
3. The grid route (G99), the network operator's likely terms and any reinforcement cost.
4. The planning strategy: land grade, landscape, biodiversity and any grazing plan.
5. Foundations, fencing, trenching and access priced as separate lines.
6. End-of-life removal and reinstatement of the land.