Commercial building solar panels in Brentwood
Most commercial roofs around Brentwood already carry plant, a parapet and an access hatch, and the space between them is where the array goes. 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.
913 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 210 kWp array models at about 192,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Book a roof survey in BrentwoodIllustrative layout for a flat commercial roof of this size, with plant, shade and access kept clear. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
- 55,340
- people in the Brentwood built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
- 640
- office properties on the rating list in Brentwood (VOA, March 2025)
- 570
- retail properties, 0 of them large-format (VOA, March 2025)
- 0
- named commercial rooftop schemes on the planning record nearby (REPD, Q1 2026)
Commercial rooftop solar across Essex
Yield on a Brentwood commercial roof
Modelled irradiation here is 1,173 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 913 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is around 3 percent above the mean across the towns we cover.
How many commercial buildings Brentwood has
On the Valuation Office Agency's count, Brentwood holds 570 retail and 640 office properties on the rating list. By office stock the district sits below the median 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.
Here the stock leans towards offices rather than large-format retail, so the typical roof is smaller and busier with plant. The arrays are smaller too, but an office uses its electricity in daylight hours and so consumes almost all of what it generates.
The same list carries 130 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 55,340 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 CM postcodes, CM14 outward.
Brentwood ranks 9 of 10 towns we cover in Essex on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 908 to 973, a spread of 65 kWh per kWp. On a 210 kWp commercial roof that is about 13,650 kWh a year between the strongest and weakest town in the county.
Grid connection through UK Power Networks
UK Power Networks 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 Essex the planning database records 221 solar schemes totalling 2787 MW, of which 46 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 Brentwood
- What would a 210 kWp array produce in Brentwood?
- Yes. At 913 kWh per kWp a year, a 210 kWp array on a Brentwood roof models at around 192,000 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 Brentwood 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 Brentwood 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 Brentwood?
- 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 Brentwood have capacity for export?
- UK Power Networks is the distribution network operator for Essex. 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.