Commercial building solar panels in Goole
For a landlord in Goole, a roof array is increasingly a question about the EPC rating as much as the electricity bill. Each survey records the usable area once edge strips, plant and walkways are taken out, the load the deck can take, and whether the lease lets the occupier alter the roof.
858 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 210 kWp array models at about 180,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Book a roof survey in GooleIllustrative layout for a flat commercial roof of this size, with plant, shade and access kept clear. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
- 20,175
- people in the Goole built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
- 1,630
- office properties on the rating list in East Riding of Yorkshire (VOA, March 2025)
- 2,880
- retail properties, 60 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 East Riding of Yorkshire
How much sun a Goole roof gets
Modelled irradiation here is 1,098 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 858 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is about 3 percent below the mean across the towns we cover, so the case here rests more on daytime consumption than on raw generation.
The rating list for East Riding of Yorkshire
The Valuation Office Agency's rating list puts 1,630 office and 2,880 retail properties in East Riding of Yorkshire, covering about 217,000 and 474,000 square metres of floorspace respectively. By office stock the district sits in the top quarter of the 318 districts in England and Wales; by retail stock it sits in the top quarter of the 318 districts in England and Wales.
60 of those retail properties are superstores, large food stores, large shops or retail warehouses, together about 133,000 square metres. Single storey boxes of that size are where most commercial rooftop solar actually gets built, because the roof is big, flat or shallow, and uninterrupted.
The same list carries 690 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 20,175 people, so the stock here runs to high street premises, a supermarket or two and the odd hotel (ONS Census 2021 built-up areas).
Surveys run across DN postcodes, DN14 outward.
Goole ranks 6 of 6 towns we cover in East Riding of Yorkshire on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 858 to 870, a spread of 12 kWh per kWp. Within East Riding of Yorkshire that difference is small enough to ignore: where the building sits is not what decides this scheme, your consumption pattern is.
All solar on record near DN14
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pollington Solar Farm | Pollington Solar | 5 MW | Ground | Operational |
| Land at Pollington Airfield | Lightsource Renewable Energy | 5 MW | Ground | Operational |
| Sudforth Lane (Kellingley Solar Farm) | First Renewable Developments/ Harworth Group | 5 MW | Ground | Operational |
| East Yorkshire Solar Farm | Boom Power | 400 MW | Ground | Awaiting Construction |
| Thomas Armstrong - Solar Panels | Thomas Armstrong (Construction) Limited | 0.18 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
| Commons Farm, Thorne Road - Solar Panels | C S Backhouse | 0.36 MW | Ground | Awaiting Construction |
Grid connection through Northern Powergrid
Northern Powergrid is the network operator here, and their answer on export capacity shapes the design. Any commercial array above 3.68 kW per phase connects under G99 rather than G98, and the application fixes what you are allowed to push back onto the network. If the local network is tight, limiting export rarely breaks the case here: most of the generation is consumed on site while the building is working.
Across East Riding of Yorkshire the planning database records 86 solar schemes totalling 1439 MW, of which 2 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).
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 Goole
- What would a 210 kWp array produce in Goole?
- Yes. At 858 kWh per kWp a year, a 210 kWp array on a Goole roof models at around 180,000 kWh. What changes the answer is how much of that the building uses during opening hours rather than exports. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
- Is planning permission needed for panels on a Goole office or shop?
- 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 East Riding of Yorkshire 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.
- Will rooftop solar improve the EPC rating of a let building in Goole?
- 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.
- Does the grid around Goole have capacity for export?
- Northern Powergrid is the distribution network operator for East Riding of Yorkshire. Arrays above 3.68 kW per phase connect under G99, and the application sets the export limit. It is part of the design work we arrange.