How much would solar on a commercial building in Manchester generate?

The model gives 788 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 210 kWp is about 165,000 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.

Is planning permission needed for panels on a Manchester 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 Manchester 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 Manchester?

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 Manchester have capacity for export?

Electricity North West is the distribution network operator for Greater Manchester. 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.

Commercial building solar panels in Manchester

Whether solar pays on a Manchester commercial building depends less on the panels than on who owns the roof and who pays the bill. The survey starts with the membrane and the deck: how many years the covering has left, what the roof can carry in ballast, and where plant and its shade rule panels out.

788 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 210 kWp array models at about 165,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

Book a roof survey in Manchester

Drawing Manchester commercial roof

Roof 60 x 32 m, 1,920 m²

Array 210 kWp, east-west

Yield 165,000 kWh/yr

Scale 1:400 / Rev A / M12

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.

470,405: people in the Manchester built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
7,960: office properties on the rating list in Manchester (VOA, March 2025)
5,930: retail properties, 190 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.

Solar PV for commercial property across Greater Manchester

What a flat roof in Manchester generates

Modelled irradiation here is 1,010 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 788 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is about 11 percent below the mean across the towns we cover, so the case here rests more on daytime consumption than on raw generation.

Commercial stock in Manchester

Manchester has 7,960 office premises and 5,930 shops and other retail premises on the non-domestic rating list, according to the Valuation Office Agency. By office stock the district sits in the top tenth of the 318 districts in England and Wales; by retail stock it sits in the top tenth of the 318 districts in England and Wales.

190 of those retail properties are superstores, large food stores, large shops or retail warehouses, together about 479,000 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 940 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 470,405 people, a city-scale centre with office quarters, shopping centres and out-of-town retail parks (ONS Census 2021 built-up areas).

Surveys run across M postcodes, M12 outward.

FIG. 1 What a Manchester roof makes, month by month

May produces 7.0 times what Dec does on the same roof. A 210 kWp array here models at about 165,000 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	17	3,570
Feb	33	6,930
Mar	66	13,860
Apr	95	19,950
May	112	23,520
Jun	110	23,100
Jul	108	22,680
Aug	92	19,320
Sep	71	14,910
Oct	43	9,030
Nov	25	5,250
Dec	16	3,360

Source: EU PVGIS v5.2

FIG. 2 Manchester against the rest of Greater Manchester

Wigan828
Altrincham816
Bolton801
Salford794
Manchester788
Bury788
Stockport785
Rochdale771
Oldham771

Manchester ranks 5 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

All solar on record near M12

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
Outer Space Studios Solar Panels	Ameresco Limited	0.6 MW	Roof	Operational
Co Op Academy Belle Vue, Hyde Road - Solar Panels	Co-op Academy Trust	0.16 MW	Roof	Application Submitted

Grid connection through Electricity North West

Electricity North West 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 Greater Manchester the planning database records 118 solar schemes totalling 110 MW, of which 11 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).

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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?

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Questions about solar in Manchester

How much would solar on a commercial building in Manchester generate?: The model gives 788 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 210 kWp is about 165,000 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.
Is planning permission needed for panels on a Manchester 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 Manchester 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 Manchester?: 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 Manchester have capacity for export?: Electricity North West is the distribution network operator for Greater Manchester. 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.

Nearby

All Greater Manchester locations