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

The model gives 854 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.

Is planning permission needed for panels on a Birmingham office or shop?

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 Birmingham 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.

Will rooftop solar improve the EPC rating of a let building in Birmingham?

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.

Does the grid around Birmingham have capacity for export?

National Grid Electricity Distribution is the distribution network operator for West Midlands. Arrays above 3.68 kW per phase connect under G99, and the application sets the export limit. It is part of the design work we arrange.

Commercial building solar panels in Birmingham

For a landlord in Birmingham, a roof array is increasingly a question about the EPC rating as much as the electricity bill. Each survey records the usable area once edge strips, plant and walkways are taken out, the load the deck can take, and whether the lease lets the occupier alter the roof.

854 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.

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Drawing Birmingham commercial roof

Roof 60 x 32 m, 1,920 m²

Array 210 kWp, east-west

Yield 179,000 kWh/yr

Scale 1:400 / Rev A / B8

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.

1,121,375: people in the Birmingham built-up area (ONS Census 2021)
8,790: office properties on the rating list in Birmingham (VOA, March 2025)
11,310: retail properties, 280 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 Midlands town, a supermarket and low offices with rooftop solar — Commercial stock of the kind we survey across West Midlands. Generated illustration, not a named site.

Solar for offices and retail across West Midlands

How much sun a Birmingham roof gets

Modelled irradiation here is 1,093 kWh per square metre a year on a low-tilt array, which works out at 854 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.

The rating list for Birmingham

The Valuation Office Agency's rating list puts 8,790 office and 11,310 retail properties in Birmingham, covering about 1,728,000 and 2,040,000 square metres of floorspace respectively. 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.

280 of those retail properties are superstores, large food stores, large shops or retail warehouses, together about 753,000 square metres. Single storey boxes of that size are where most commercial rooftop solar actually gets built, because the roof is big, flat or shallow, and uninterrupted.

The same list carries 1,550 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 1,121,375 people, a city-scale centre with office quarters, shopping centres and out-of-town retail parks (ONS Census 2021 built-up areas).

Surveys run across B postcodes, B8 outward.

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

Jul produces 6.0 times what Dec does on the same roof. A 210 kWp array here models at about 179,000 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	23	4,830
Feb	37	7,770
Mar	70	14,700
Apr	98	20,580
May	115	24,150
Jun	117	24,570
Jul	119	24,990
Aug	101	21,210
Sep	78	16,380
Oct	48	10,080
Nov	28	5,880
Dec	20	4,200

Source: EU PVGIS v5.2

FIG. 2 Birmingham against the rest of West Midlands

Coventry868
Solihull860
Birmingham854
West Bromwich852
Sutton Coldfield852
Walsall851
Dudley845
Wolverhampton839

Birmingham ranks 3 of 8 towns we cover in West Midlands on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 839 to 868, a spread of 29 kWh per kWp. Within West Midlands 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

All solar on record near B8

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
Eden Boys Leadership Academy, Alum Rock Road - Solar Panels	Star Academies	n/a	Roof	Awaiting Construction
Network Park Industrial Estate, Duddeston Mill Road - Solar Panels	Indurent Management Limited	0.21 MW	Roof	Application Submitted

Grid connection through National Grid Electricity Distribution

National Grid Electricity Distribution operates the distribution network across West Midlands, 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 West Midlands the planning database records 195 solar schemes totalling 533 MW, of which 3 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).

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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?

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

Questions about solar in Birmingham

How much would solar on a commercial building in Birmingham generate?: The model gives 854 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.
Is planning permission needed for panels on a Birmingham office or shop?: 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 Birmingham 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.
Will rooftop solar improve the EPC rating of a let building in Birmingham?: 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.
Does the grid around Birmingham have capacity for export?: National Grid Electricity Distribution is the distribution network operator for West Midlands. Arrays above 3.68 kW per phase connect under G99, and the application sets the export limit. It is part of the design work we arrange.

Nearby

All West Midlands locations