Commercial building solar panels in Tiverton
An office or store in Tiverton buys most of its electricity between eight in the morning and six at night, which is when a roof array generates. What decides a scheme is the roof covering, the parapet height and the plant layout, which is why the survey happens on the roof rather than from a satellite image.
903 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 TivertonIllustrative layout for a flat commercial roof of this size, with plant, shade and access kept clear. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
- 19,710
- people in the Tiverton built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
- 300
- office properties on the rating list in Mid Devon (VOA, March 2025)
- 530
- retail properties, 20 of them large-format (VOA, March 2025)
- 0
- named commercial rooftop schemes on the planning record nearby (REPD, Q1 2026)
Solar for offices and retail across Devon
How much sun a Tiverton roof gets
Modelled irradiation here is 1,152 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 903 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.
The rating list for Mid Devon
The Valuation Office Agency's rating list puts 300 office and 530 retail properties in Mid Devon, covering about 33,000 and 91,000 square metres of floorspace respectively. By office stock the district sits in the bottom quarter of the 318 districts in England and Wales; by retail stock it sits in the bottom quarter of the 318 districts in England and Wales.
The big roofs are in the 20 large-format retail units, superstores and retail warehouses in the district, about 34,000 square metres of floorspace under largely single storey roofs.
The same list carries 210 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.
The built-up area holds about 19,710 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 EX postcode area, starting from EX16.
Tiverton ranks 8 of 8 towns we cover in Devon on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 903 to 961, a spread of 58 kWh per kWp. On a 210 kWp commercial roof that is about 12,180 kWh a year between the strongest and weakest town in the county.
Grid connection through National Grid Electricity Distribution
National Grid Electricity Distribution operates the distribution network across Devon, 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 Devon the planning database records 248 solar schemes totalling 1451 MW, of which 90 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).
All solar on record near EX16
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Bradley Farm | Lightsource Renewable Energy | 1.5 MW | Ground | Operational |
| Barton Solar Farm | Lightsource Renewable Energy | 1.2 MW | Ground | Operational |
| Blatchworthy Farm | Lightsource Renewable Energy | 1.5 MW | Ground | Operational |
| Great Curham Farm | Solar Power Generation Ltd | 6.3 MW | Ground | Revised |
| Keens Farm | juwi Renewable Energies | 5.1 MW | Ground | Appeal Refused |
| Red Hill Farm | Lightsource Renewable Energy | 4.8 MW | Ground | Operational |
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 Tiverton
- Is there enough sun in Tiverton for a commercial roof array?
- Modelled at 903 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 Mid Devon?
- 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 Mid Devon 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 Tiverton 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 Tiverton?
- Capacity varies street by street and only National Grid Electricity Distribution 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.