Commercial building solar panels in Burton upon Trent
A flat commercial roof in Burton upon Trent is usually the largest surface a building owns and the one nobody is asked to manage. 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.
852 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 210 kWp array models at about 179,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Book a roof survey in Burton upon TrentIllustrative layout for a flat commercial roof of this size, with plant, shade and access kept clear. Your own figures come from the roof survey.
- 76,255
- people in the Burton upon Trent built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
- 680
- office properties on the rating list in East Staffordshire (VOA, March 2025)
- 1,090
- retail properties, 60 of them large-format (VOA, March 2025)
- 2
- named commercial rooftop schemes on the planning record nearby (REPD, Q1 2026)
Solar PV for commercial property across Staffordshire
What a flat roof in Burton upon Trent generates
Modelled irradiation here is 1,089 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 852 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is about 4 percent below the mean across the towns we cover, so the case here rests more on daytime consumption than on raw generation.
Commercial stock in East Staffordshire
East Staffordshire has 680 office premises and 1,090 shops and other retail premises on the non-domestic rating list, according to the Valuation Office Agency. By office stock the district sits below 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 60 large-format retail units, superstores and retail warehouses in the district, about 115,000 square metres of floorspace under largely single storey roofs.
The same list carries 200 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 Burton upon Trent
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centrum East Retail Park | Ashcroft Electrical Services Limited | retail | 0.2 MW | Awaiting Construction |
| Meadowside Leisure Centre, High Street | East Staffordshire Borough Council | leisure | 0.29 MW | Application Submitted |
The built-up area holds about 76,255 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 DE postcode area, starting from DE14.
Burton upon Trent ranks 3 of 7 towns we cover in Staffordshire on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 826 to 857, a spread of 31 kWh per kWp. Within Staffordshire 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 Burton upon Trent 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 Staffordshire the planning database records 118 solar schemes totalling 1054 MW, of which 17 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).
All solar on record near DE14
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lanxess, Lichfield Road - Solar Panels | Beba Energy Limited | 0.21 MW | Roof | Application Submitted |
| Velis Kebab, Hawkins Lane - Photovoltaic Panels | Velis | 0.17 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
| Port Way, Branston - Solar Panels | Leonardo Crawley Limited | 0.65 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
| Centrum East Retail Park - Solar Panels | Ashcroft Electrical Services Limited | 0.2 MW | Roof | Awaiting Construction |
| Meadowside Leisure Centre, High Street - Solar Panels | East Staffordshire Borough Council | 0.29 MW | Roof | Application Submitted |
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 Burton upon Trent
- How much would solar on a commercial building in Burton upon Trent generate?
- The model gives 852 kWh for every kWp installed here, so 210 kWp is about 179,000 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 East Staffordshire?
- 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 East Staffordshire 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 Burton upon Trent 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 Burton upon Trent?
- 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.