Commercial building solar panels in St Ives
Commercial roofs in St Ives tend to be flat, membrane covered and cluttered with plant, which shapes the layout more than the size does. We check the covering and the lease together, because a roof with eight years of membrane left and a tenant with a break in three changes the answer.
906 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 210 kWp array models at about 190,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Book a roof survey in St IvesIllustrative layout for a flat commercial roof of this size, with plant, shade and access kept clear. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
- 16,820
- people in the St Ives built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
- 1,080
- office properties on the rating list in Huntingdonshire (VOA, March 2025)
- 1,010
- retail properties, 50 of them large-format (VOA, March 2025)
- 1
- named commercial rooftop scheme on the planning record nearby (REPD, Q1 2026)
Commercial rooftop solar across Cambridgeshire
Yield on a St Ives commercial roof
Modelled irradiation here is 1,162 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 906 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is within a few percent of the mean across the towns we cover, so the weather is not what decides the case here. Opening hours are.
How many commercial buildings Huntingdonshire has
On the Valuation Office Agency's count, Huntingdonshire holds 1,010 retail and 1,080 office properties on the rating list. By office stock the district sits above the median of the 318 districts in England and Wales; by retail stock it sits below the median of the 318 districts in England and Wales.
The big roofs are in the 50 large-format retail units, superstores and retail warehouses in the district, about 90,000 square metres of floorspace under largely single storey roofs.
The same list carries 310 hotel, leisure and assembly properties in the district. Leisure centres and hotels run seven days a week, which puts weekend generation to use that an office would export.
Source: Valuation Office Agency, Non-domestic rating: business floorspace, 31 March 2025 (published December 2025), counts and floorspace by special category code and local authority district, England and Wales.
Commercial rooftop solar already planned near St Ives
The Renewable Energy Planning Database records one roof-mounted scheme on supermarket and retail buildings in this postcode district. These are other organisations' projects, listed from the public record, not ours.
| Scheme | Applicant | Type | Capacity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Needingworth Road | WM Morrisons Supermarkets Plc | retail | 0.37 MW | Awaiting Construction |
The built-up area holds about 16,820 people, so the stock here runs to high street premises, a supermarket or two and the odd hotel (ONS Census 2021 built-up areas).
We arrange surveys across the PE postcode area, starting from PE27.
St Ives ranks 3 of 8 towns we cover in Cambridgeshire on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 898 to 908, a spread of 10 kWh per kWp. Within Cambridgeshire that difference is small enough to ignore: where the building sits is not what decides this scheme, your consumption pattern is.
Grid connection through UK Power Networks
UK Power Networks operates the distribution network across Cambridgeshire, so the export application goes to them. Anything larger than 3.68 kW per phase falls under G99, which means an application before commissioning rather than a notification afterwards. A constrained network is not the end of a scheme. Capping export costs little when the building already absorbs most of what the roof produces.
Across Cambridgeshire the planning database records 172 solar schemes totalling 2422 MW, of which 46 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).
All solar on record near PE27
Every scheme in this postcode district in the government's Renewable Energy Planning Database, Q1 2026, ground and roof mounted, commercial or not. None of them is ours. Together they are a fair guide to how the local network has been treating export applications.
| Scheme | Operator | Capacity | Mounting | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wiggin Hill Solar Farm - Phase 2 | Lightsource Renewable Energy | 4.1 MW | Ground | Operational |
| Wiggin Hill Solar Farm - Phase 1 | Lightsource Renewable Energy | 6.8 MW | Ground | Operational |
| Meadow Lane Park and Ride | Cambridgeshire CC / Bouygues Energies | 0.9 MW | Ground | Under Construction |
| Needingworth Road - Solar Photovoltaic Array | WM Morrisons Supermarkets Plc | 0.37 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
| One Leisure Indoor, Westwood Road - Solar Car Park Canopies | Huntingdonshire District Council | n/a | Ground | Awaiting Construction |
Send us the postcode
Tell us where the building is, roughly how big the roof is, and whether you own it or lease it. We come back with what it can carry, what it would generate against your consumption, and the three ways to pay for it.
Lenzie Consulting Ltd arranges the survey and passes your details to our MCS-certified installation partner so they can quote.
Questions about solar in St Ives
- Is there enough sun in St Ives for a commercial roof array?
- Modelled at 906 kWh per kWp a year for a low-tilt array at this latitude, a 210 kWp system comes out at roughly 190,000 kWh a year before shading. It needs about 1,390 m² of flat roof once the edge strip, plant and walkways are kept clear. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
- Do we need planning permission for solar on a commercial building in Huntingdonshire?
- Usually not a full application. In England, panels on the roof of a non-domestic building are permitted development under Class J of Part 14 of the General Permitted Development Order, with no capacity cap since December 2023. Above 50 kW, which covers most commercial arrays, you must first apply to Huntingdonshire for a determination on prior approval of the design and appearance, in particular glare on neighbouring land. On a flat roof panels may stand no more than 1 metre above the roof and must sit at least 1 metre from its edge, and listed buildings and scheduled monuments are excluded. See our planning permission guide for the detail.
- Does solar help a St Ives landlord meet MEES?
- It can. A non-domestic EPC is an asset rating, and on-site generation counts in the calculation, so an array usually lifts the score. Let property in England and Wales must be EPC E or better today. The government's interim response of 18 June 2026 proposes EPC B, where cost effective, from 2031 for let buildings over 1,000 m², and drops the EPC C step once planned for 2027. How far solar moves a particular building depends on its fabric and services, which is why the EPC assessor models it before anything is fitted.
- Which network operator handles the connection in St Ives?
- Capacity varies street by street and only UK Power Networks can answer it for your connection. We ask early, because an export-limited offer changes the design rather than ending the scheme, and most commercial buildings use most of what they generate anyway.