Commercial building solar panels in Didcot
An office or store in Didcot 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.
913 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 210 kWp array models at about 192,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Book a roof survey in DidcotIllustrative layout for a flat commercial roof of this size, with plant, shade and access kept clear. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
- 34,600
- people in the Didcot built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
- 1,110
- office properties on the rating list in South Oxfordshire (VOA, March 2025)
- 870
- retail properties, 10 of them large-format (VOA, March 2025)
- 6
- named commercial rooftop schemes on the planning record nearby (REPD, Q1 2026)
Solar for offices and retail across Oxfordshire
How much sun a Didcot roof gets
Modelled irradiation here is 1,169 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 913 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is around 3 percent above the mean across the towns we cover.
The rating list for South Oxfordshire
The Valuation Office Agency's rating list puts 1,110 office and 870 retail properties in South Oxfordshire, covering about 172,000 and 144,000 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 below the median of the 318 districts in England and Wales.
The big roofs are in the 10 large-format retail units, superstores and retail warehouses in the district, about 32,000 square metres of floorspace under largely single storey roofs.
The same list carries 310 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 Didcot
The Renewable Energy Planning Database records 6 roof-mounted schemes on public sector buildings in this postcode district. These are other organisations' projects, listed from the public record, not ours.
| Scheme | Applicant | Type | Capacity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avon Road Car Park - Solar Photovoltaic Carport System | Science and Technology Facilities Council | civic | 1.62 MW | Operational |
| South Car Park - Solar photovoltaic carport system | Science and Technology Facilities Council | civic | n/a | Operational |
| Rutherford Appleton Laboratory | The Science and Technology Facilities Council | civic | 1.6 MW | Awaiting Construction |
| Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Building R8 & R9, Harwell | Science & Technology Facilities Council | civic | 0.26 MW | Application Withdrawn |
| Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Building R40, Harwell | Science and Technology Facilities Council | civic | 0.2 MW | Application Withdrawn |
| Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Building R1, Harwell | Science and Technology Facilities Council | civic | 0.42 MW | Application Withdrawn |
The built-up area holds about 34,600 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 OX postcode area, starting from OX11.
Didcot ranks 1 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
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks operates the distribution network across Oxfordshire, 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 Oxfordshire the planning database records 149 solar schemes totalling 2544 MW, of which 31 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).
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 Didcot
- How much would solar on a commercial building in Didcot generate?
- The model gives 913 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 210 kWp is about 192,000 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 South Oxfordshire?
- 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 South Oxfordshire 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 Didcot 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 Didcot?
- 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.