Commercial building solar panels in Bicester
An office or store in Bicester buys most of its electricity between eight in the morning and six at night, which is when a roof array generates. 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.
895 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.
Book a roof survey in BicesterIllustrative layout for a flat commercial roof of this size, with plant, shade and access kept clear. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
- 37,755
- people in the Bicester built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
- 1,220
- office properties on the rating list in Cherwell (VOA, March 2025)
- 1,160
- retail properties, 70 of them large-format (VOA, March 2025)
- 2
- named commercial rooftop schemes on the planning record nearby (REPD, Q1 2026)
Solar for offices and retail across Oxfordshire
How much sun a Bicester roof gets
Modelled irradiation here is 1,149 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 895 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 Cherwell
The Valuation Office Agency's rating list puts 1,220 office and 1,160 retail properties in Cherwell, covering about 188,000 and 329,000 square metres of floorspace respectively. By office stock the district sits above the median of the 318 districts in England and Wales; by retail stock it sits above the median of the 318 districts in England and Wales.
The big roofs are in the 70 large-format retail units, superstores and retail warehouses in the district, about 155,000 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.
Commercial rooftop solar already planned near Bicester
The Renewable Energy Planning Database records 2 roof-mounted schemes on supermarket and retail and leisure and hospitality buildings in this postcode district. These are other organisations' projects, listed from the public record, not ours.
| Scheme | Applicant | Type | Capacity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tesco Superstore Bicester | Batchelor Electrical | retail | 0.6 MW | Under Construction |
| Bicester Hotel Golf And Spa, Akeman Street | Bicester Golf and Country Club | leisure | 0.4 MW | Awaiting Construction |
The built-up area holds about 37,755 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 OX postcode area, starting from OX26.
Bicester ranks 6 of 8 towns we cover in Oxfordshire on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 891 to 913, a spread of 22 kWh per kWp. Within Oxfordshire that difference is small enough to ignore: where the building sits is not what decides this scheme, your consumption pattern is.
Grid connection through Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks
Connections around Bicester are handled by Scottish and Southern Electricity 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 Oxfordshire the planning database records 149 solar schemes totalling 2544 MW, of which 31 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).
All solar on record near OX26
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tesco Superstore Bicester | Batchelor Electrical | 0.6 MW | Roof | Under Construction |
| British Bakels, Granville Way - Solar Panels | Cactus Energy | 0.83 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
| Bicester Park, Charbridge Lane - Solar Panels | Greencore Construction Limited | 0.32 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
| Brita Water Filter Systems Limited, Granville Way - Solar panels | Cactus Energy | 0.33 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
| Units 4, 5, 6, 8 & 9, Longlands Road - Solar Panels | Barings | 0.73 MW | Roof | Application Submitted |
| Bicester Hotel Golf And Spa, Akeman Street - Solar Panels | Bicester Golf and Country Club | 0.4 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
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 Bicester
- How much would solar on a commercial building in Bicester generate?
- The model gives 895 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 210 kWp is about 188,000 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 Cherwell?
- 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 Cherwell 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 Bicester 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 Bicester?
- Capacity varies street by street and only Scottish and Southern Electricity 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.