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

The model gives 894 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 Somerset?

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 Somerset 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 Frome 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 Frome?

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.

Commercial building solar panels in Frome

Commercial roofs in Frome tend to be flat, membrane covered and cluttered with plant, which shapes the layout more than the size does. 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.

894 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 Frome

Drawing Frome 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 / BA11

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.

27,905: people in the Frome built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
2,990: office properties on the rating list in Somerset (VOA, March 2025)
4,410: 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 South West market town, with rooftop solar on several buildings — Commercial stock of the kind we survey across South West. Generated illustration, not a named site.

Commercial rooftop solar across Somerset

Yield on a Frome commercial roof

Modelled irradiation here is 1,143 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 894 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 Somerset has

On the Valuation Office Agency's count, Somerset holds 4,410 retail and 2,990 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 tenth of the 318 districts in England and Wales.

The big roofs are in the 190 large-format retail units, superstores and retail warehouses in the district, about 416,000 square metres of floorspace under largely single storey roofs.

The same list carries 1,390 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 27,905 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 BA postcode area, starting from BA11.

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

Jul produces 6.3 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	105	22,050
May	121	25,410
Jun	122	25,620
Jul	125	26,250
Aug	104	21,840
Sep	82	17,220
Oct	50	10,500
Nov	30	6,300
Dec	20	4,200

Source: EU PVGIS v5.2

FIG. 2 Frome against the rest of Somerset

Weston-super-Mare934
Bridgwater931
Yeovil923
Glastonbury913
Taunton911
Bath904
Wells899
Frome894

Frome ranks 8 of 8 towns we cover in Somerset on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 894 to 934, a spread of 40 kWh per kWp. Within Somerset 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

Grid connection through National Grid Electricity Distribution

Connections around Frome 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 Somerset the planning database records 223 solar schemes totalling 1574 MW, of which 79 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).

All solar on record near BA11

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
Little Sharpshaw Farm solar park	AEE Renewables	5.3 MW	Ground	Application Refused
Monksham Solar Farm	John Laing Environmental Assets Group	10.7 MW	Ground	Operational
Court Farm (Frome)	Sunsave 24 (West Woodlands) Limited	6.8 MW	Ground	Appeal Refused
West Woodlands	Sunsave 24/ Vogt solar	5 MW	Ground	Operational
Selwood Solar Farm	Land Value Alliances & Landowners Consortium	6 MW	Ground	Application Withdrawn
Marston Trading Estate, Manor Furlong - Solar Panels	Private Developer	0.81 MW	Roof	Awaiting Construction

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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?

Anything we should know about the roof?

We pass your details to our MCS-certified installation partner so they can quote. Read the privacy notice.

Questions about solar in Frome

How much would solar on a commercial building in Frome generate?: The model gives 894 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 Somerset?: 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 Somerset 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 Frome 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 Frome?: 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.

Nearby

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