Commercial building solar panels in Harlow
An office or store in Harlow buys most of its electricity between eight in the morning and six at night, which is when a roof array generates. 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.
908 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 210 kWp array models at about 191,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Book a roof survey in HarlowIllustrative layout for a flat commercial roof of this size, with plant, shade and access kept clear. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
- 93,580
- people in the Harlow built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
- 460
- office properties on the rating list in Harlow (VOA, March 2025)
- 490
- retail properties, 60 of them large-format (VOA, March 2025)
- 1
- named commercial rooftop scheme on the planning record nearby (REPD, Q1 2026)
Solar for offices and retail across Essex
How much sun a Harlow roof gets
Modelled irradiation here is 1,164 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 908 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 Harlow
The Valuation Office Agency's rating list puts 460 office and 490 retail properties in Harlow, covering about 86,000 and 143,000 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 60 large-format retail units, superstores and retail warehouses in the district, about 85,000 square metres of floorspace under largely single storey roofs.
The same list carries 90 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 Harlow
The Renewable Energy Planning Database records one roof-mounted scheme on office and business park buildings in this postcode district. These are other organisations' projects, listed from the public record, not ours.
One of them was put through planning by Nuveen Real Estate, an investment manager or landlord rather than the occupier. That is the pattern MEES is pushing towards: the owner fits the array to protect the EPC rating and the letting, then sells the power to the tenant.
| Scheme | Applicant | Type | Capacity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calder House, Central Road | Nuveen Real Estate (landlord) | office | 0.36 MW | Awaiting Construction |
The built-up area holds about 93,580 people, large enough for a retail park or two and a cluster of office buildings (ONS Census 2021 built-up areas).
We arrange surveys across the CM postcode area, starting from CM20.
Harlow ranks 10 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
Connections around Harlow are handled by UK Power Networks, which sets the export limit for the site. Above 3.68 kW per phase the connection runs under G99, so the export limit is agreed in advance rather than assumed. Where the local network is constrained, an export-limited connection usually still makes the scheme work, because a commercial building uses most of what the roof makes during the working day.
Across Essex the planning database records 221 solar schemes totalling 2787 MW, of which 46 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).
All solar on record near CM20
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gates Of Harlow, Edinburgh Way - Solar Panels | Unknown | 0.16 MW | Ground | Awaiting Construction |
| Calder House, Central Road - Solar Panels | Nuveen Real Estate | 0.36 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
| Harlow Leisurezone, Second Avenue - Solar panels | Harlow Leisurezone | 0.7 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
| Edinburgh Way - Solar Panels | Indurent Propco A1 Limited | 0.2 MW | Roof | Application Submitted |
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 Harlow
- How much would solar on a commercial building in Harlow generate?
- The model gives 908 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 210 kWp is about 191,000 kWh a year before shading losses. Allow roughly 1,390 m² of roof for it. 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 Harlow?
- 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 Harlow 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 Harlow 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 Harlow?
- 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.