Is there enough sun in Crawley for a commercial roof array?

Modelled at 915 kWh per kWp a year for a low-tilt array at this latitude, a 210 kWp system comes out at roughly 192,000 kWh a year before shading. It needs about 1,390 m² of flat roof once the edge strip, plant and walkways are kept clear. 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 Crawley?

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 Crawley 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 Crawley 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.

Commercial building solar panels in Crawley

A flat commercial roof in Crawley is usually the largest surface a building owns and the one nobody is asked to manage. We check the covering and the lease together, because a roof with eight years of membrane left and a tenant with a break in three changes the answer.

915 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.

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Drawing Crawley commercial roof

Roof 60 x 32 m, 1,920 m²

Array 210 kWp, east-west

Yield 192,000 kWh/yr

Scale 1:400 / Rev A / RH10

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.

120,550: people in the Crawley built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
1,170: office properties on the rating list in Crawley (VOA, March 2025)
550: retail properties, 30 of them large-format (VOA, March 2025)
1: named commercial rooftop scheme on the planning record nearby (REPD, Q1 2026)

The commercial edge of a Home Counties town, offices and a retail park with solar on several roofs — Commercial stock of the kind we survey across South East. Generated illustration, not a named site.

Solar PV for commercial property across Sussex

What a flat roof in Crawley generates

Modelled irradiation here is 1,175 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 915 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.

Commercial stock in Crawley

Crawley has 1,170 office premises and 550 shops and other retail premises on the non-domestic rating list, according to the Valuation Office Agency. By office stock the district sits above the median of the 318 districts in England and Wales; by retail stock it sits in the bottom quarter of the 318 districts in England and Wales.

The big roofs are in the 30 large-format retail units, superstores and retail warehouses in the district, about 72,000 square metres of floorspace under largely single storey roofs.

The same list carries 150 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 Crawley

The Renewable Energy Planning Database records one roof-mounted scheme on 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
Unit 2, Hollywood Bowl, Crawley Leisure Park	Hollywood Bowl Group	leisure	0.22 MW	Awaiting Construction

The built-up area holds about 120,550 people, large enough for a retail park or two and a cluster of office buildings (ONS Census 2021 built-up areas).

We arrange surveys across the RH postcode area, starting from RH10.

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

Jun produces 5.8 times what Dec does on the same roof. A 210 kWp array here models at about 192,000 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	25	5,250
Feb	39	8,190
Mar	74	15,540
Apr	106	22,260
May	121	25,410
Jun	128	26,880
Jul	128	26,880
Aug	107	22,470
Sep	84	17,640
Oct	51	10,710
Nov	31	6,510
Dec	22	4,620

Source: EU PVGIS v5.2

FIG. 2 Crawley against the rest of Sussex

Lewes1028
Eastbourne1017
Brighton1015
Bognor Regis1000
Worthing999
Hastings989
Haywards Heath957
Horsham935
Crawley915

Crawley ranks 10 of 10 towns we cover in Sussex on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 915 to 1028, a spread of 113 kWh per kWp. On a 210 kWp commercial roof that is about 23,730 kWh a year between the strongest and weakest town in the county.

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

All solar on record near RH10

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
Majors Hill/Turners Hill Solar Farm	Haymaker Energy	1.1 MW	Ground	Operational
Oriel High School	West Sussex County Council	0.19 MW	Roof	Operational
Manor Royal, Rowfant - Solar PV Array	Vodafone Limited	0.27 MW	Roof	Application Withdrawn
Unit 2, Hollywood Bowl, Crawley Leisure Park - Solar Array	Hollywood Bowl Group	0.22 MW	Roof	Awaiting Construction
Welland Medical, Hydehurst Lane - Solar Panels	Welland Medical Limited	0.94 MW	Roof	Awaiting Construction
Vodafone UK, Newton Road - Solar Panels	Custom Solar Limited	0.27 MW	Roof	Awaiting Construction

Book the survey

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 Crawley

Is there enough sun in Crawley for a commercial roof array?: Modelled at 915 kWh per kWp a year for a low-tilt array at this latitude, a 210 kWp system comes out at roughly 192,000 kWh a year before shading. It needs about 1,390 m² of flat roof once the edge strip, plant and walkways are kept clear. 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 Crawley?: 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 Crawley 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 Crawley 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.

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