What would a 210 kWp array produce in Northampton?

Yes. At 893 kWh per kWp a year, a 210 kWp array on a Northampton roof models at around 188,000 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 Northampton 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 West Northamptonshire 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 Northampton?

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 Northampton have capacity for export?

National Grid Electricity Distribution is the distribution network operator for Northamptonshire. 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 Northampton

Most commercial roofs around Northampton 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.

893 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 210 kWp array models at about 188,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

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Drawing Northampton commercial roof

Roof 60 x 32 m, 1,920 m²

Array 210 kWp, east-west

Yield 188,000 kWh/yr

Scale 1:400 / Rev A / NN1

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.

243,520: people in the Northampton built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
2,620: office properties on the rating list in West Northamptonshire (VOA, March 2025)
2,320: retail properties, 110 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 Midlands town, a supermarket and low offices with rooftop solar — Commercial stock of the kind we survey across East Midlands. Generated illustration, not a named site.

Commercial rooftop solar across Northamptonshire

Yield on a Northampton commercial roof

Modelled irradiation here is 1,142 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 893 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.

How many commercial buildings West Northamptonshire has

On the Valuation Office Agency's count, West Northamptonshire holds 2,320 retail and 2,620 office properties on the rating list. 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 quarter of the 318 districts in England and Wales.

110 of those retail properties are superstores, large food stores, large shops or retail warehouses, together about 229,000 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 243,520 people, large enough for a retail park or two and a cluster of office buildings (ONS Census 2021 built-up areas).

Surveys run across NN postcodes, NN1 outward.

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

Jul produces 5.9 times what Dec does on the same roof. A 210 kWp array here models at about 188,000 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	24	5,040
Feb	38	7,980
Mar	73	15,330
Apr	103	21,630
May	120	25,200
Jun	122	25,620
Jul	124	26,040
Aug	105	22,050
Sep	82	17,220
Oct	51	10,710
Nov	30	6,300
Dec	21	4,410

Source: EU PVGIS v5.2

FIG. 2 Northampton against the rest of Northamptonshire

Rushden900
Towcester897
Wellingborough896
Kettering895
Northampton893
Corby892
Daventry890

Northampton ranks 5 of 7 towns we cover in Northamptonshire on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 890 to 900, a spread of 10 kWh per kWp. Within Northamptonshire that difference is small enough to ignore: where the building sits is not what decides this scheme, your consumption pattern is.

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 NN1

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
Ladys Lane - Solar Panels	Bowmer & Kirkland Limited	0.17 MW	Roof	Awaiting Construction

Grid connection through National Grid Electricity Distribution

National Grid Electricity Distribution operates the distribution network across Northamptonshire, so the export application goes to them. Anything larger than 3.68 kW per phase falls under G99, which means an application before commissioning rather than a notification afterwards. A constrained network is not the end of a scheme. Capping export costs little when the building already absorbs most of what the roof produces.

Across Northamptonshire the planning database records 133 solar schemes totalling 1932 MW, of which 25 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 Northampton

What would a 210 kWp array produce in Northampton?: Yes. At 893 kWh per kWp a year, a 210 kWp array on a Northampton roof models at around 188,000 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 Northampton 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 West Northamptonshire 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 Northampton?: 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 Northampton have capacity for export?: National Grid Electricity Distribution is the distribution network operator for Northamptonshire. 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 Northamptonshire locations