Commercial building solar panels in Ludlow
An office or store in Ludlow 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.
860 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 210 kWp array models at about 181,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Book a roof survey in LudlowIllustrative layout for a flat commercial roof of this size, with plant, shade and access kept clear. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
- 10,040
- people in the Ludlow built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
- 1,790
- office properties on the rating list in Shropshire (VOA, March 2025)
- 2,820
- retail properties, 110 of them large-format (VOA, March 2025)
- 0
- named commercial rooftop schemes on the planning record nearby (REPD, Q1 2026)
Solar for offices and retail across Shropshire
How much sun a Ludlow roof gets
Modelled irradiation here is 1,101 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 860 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is about 3 percent below the mean across the towns we cover, so the case here rests more on daytime consumption than on raw generation.
The rating list for Shropshire
The Valuation Office Agency's rating list puts 1,790 office and 2,820 retail properties in Shropshire, covering about 233,000 and 544,000 square metres of floorspace respectively. By office stock the district sits in the top quarter 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 110 large-format retail units, superstores and retail warehouses in the district, about 227,000 square metres of floorspace under largely single storey roofs.
The same list carries 750 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 10,040 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 SY postcode area, starting from SY8.
Ludlow ranks 1 of 5 towns we cover in Shropshire on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 842 to 860, a spread of 18 kWh per kWp. Within Shropshire that difference is small enough to ignore: where the building sits is not what decides this scheme, your consumption pattern is.
Grid connection through National Grid Electricity Distribution
Connections around Ludlow are handled by National Grid Electricity Distribution, 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 Shropshire the planning database records 110 solar schemes totalling 813 MW, of which 27 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).
All solar on record near SY8
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bromfield Sand and Gravel | Sovereign Partners | 0.5 MW | Ground | Operational |
| South of Henley Hall | NESF (formerly Kronos Solar (KS SPV39)) | 5 MW | Ground | Operational |
| Squirrel Lane - Solar Photovoltaic Farm | Locogen Limited | 12 MW | Ground | Awaiting Construction |
| Brick House Farm - Solar Farm | Bluefield Renewwable Developments Limited | 49.9 MW | Ground | Awaiting Construction |
| Rock Farm - Solar Farm | Anglo Renewables | 40 MW | Ground | Awaiting Construction |
| Sainsburys Supermarkets, Dun Cow Road - Solar Panels | Sainsburys Supermarkets Limited | 0.18 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 Ludlow
- How much would solar on a commercial building in Ludlow generate?
- The model gives 860 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 210 kWp is about 181,000 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 Shropshire?
- 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 Shropshire 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 Ludlow 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 Ludlow?
- Capacity varies street by street and only National Grid Electricity Distribution 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.