How much would solar on a commercial building in Ashton-under-Lyne generate?

The model gives 769 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 210 kWp is about 161,000 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 Tameside?

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 Tameside 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 Ashton-under-Lyne 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 Ashton-under-Lyne?

Capacity varies street by street and only Electricity North West 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.

Commercial building solar panels in Ashton-under-Lyne

Commercial roofs in Ashton-under-Lyne tend to be flat, membrane covered and cluttered with plant, which shapes the layout more than the size does. 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.

769 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 210 kWp array models at about 161,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

Book a roof survey in Ashton-under-Lyne

Drawing Ashton-under-Lyne commercial roof

Roof 60 x 32 m, 1,920 m²

Array 210 kWp, east-west

Yield 161,000 kWh/yr

Scale 1:400 / Rev A / OL6

Illustrative layout for a flat commercial roof of this size, with plant, shade and access kept clear. Your own figures come from the roof survey.

48,600: people in the Ashton-under-Lyne built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
970: office properties on the rating list in Tameside (VOA, March 2025)
2,190: retail properties, 80 of them large-format (VOA, March 2025)
0: named commercial rooftop schemes on the planning record nearby (REPD, Q1 2026)

The commercial edge of a North West town, offices and a retail park with solar on several roofs, Pennine hills beyond — Commercial stock of the kind we survey across North West. Generated illustration, not a named site.

Commercial rooftop solar across Greater Manchester

Yield on a Ashton-under-Lyne commercial roof

Modelled irradiation here is 983 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 769 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is about 13 percent below the mean across the towns we cover, so the case here rests more on daytime consumption than on raw generation.

How many commercial buildings Tameside has

On the Valuation Office Agency's count, Tameside holds 2,190 retail and 970 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 in the top quarter of the 318 districts in England and Wales.

The big roofs are in the 80 large-format retail units, superstores and retail warehouses in the district, about 150,000 square metres of floorspace under largely single storey roofs.

The same list carries 280 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 48,600 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 OL postcode area, starting from OL6.

FIG. 1 What a Ashton-under-Lyne roof makes, month by month

May produces 7.3 times what Jan does on the same roof. A 210 kWp array here models at about 161,000 kWh across the year, but it arrives unevenly, which is why we size against your summer daytime load and then look at whether storage is worth adding for the shoulder months.

Monthly figures as a table

Month	kWh per kWp	210 kWp array
Jan	15	3,150
Feb	31	6,510
Mar	63	13,230
Apr	93	19,530
May	110	23,100
Jun	109	22,890
Jul	108	22,680
Aug	90	18,900
Sep	69	14,490
Oct	42	8,820
Nov	23	4,830
Dec	15	3,150

Source: EU PVGIS v5.2

FIG. 2 Ashton-under-Lyne against the rest of Greater Manchester

Altrincham816
Bolton801
Salford794
Manchester788
Bury788
Stockport785
Rochdale771
Oldham771
Ashton-under-Lyne769

Ashton-under-Lyne ranks 10 of 10 towns we cover in Greater Manchester on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 769 to 828, a spread of 59 kWh per kWp. On a 210 kWp commercial roof that is about 12,390 kWh a year between the strongest and weakest town in the county.

Bars are zero based, so length is proportional to the figure. Where a county is flat, that is the finding: location is not the lever, consumption is. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, modelled per town

Grid connection through Electricity North West

Connections around Ashton-under-Lyne are handled by Electricity North West, 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 Greater Manchester the planning database records 118 solar schemes totalling 110 MW, of which 11 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).

All solar on record near OL6

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
Tameside College, Beaufort Road - Solar Panels	Tameside College	0.4 MW	Roof	Awaiting Construction

Book the survey

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.

Your name Company Email Phone Site postcode Building type Your interest in the building Roof area Annual electricity spend What are you looking at?

Anything we should know about the roof?

We pass your details to our MCS-certified installation partner so they can quote. Read the privacy notice.

Questions about solar in Ashton-under-Lyne

How much would solar on a commercial building in Ashton-under-Lyne generate?: The model gives 769 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 210 kWp is about 161,000 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 Tameside?: 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 Tameside 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 Ashton-under-Lyne 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 Ashton-under-Lyne?: Capacity varies street by street and only Electricity North West 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.

Nearby

All Greater Manchester locations