This page aims to give residents information about solar panels that capture energy from the sun and convert it into electricity. These are also known as photovoltaic (PV) solar panels.
By visiting Centre for Sustainable Energy called Solar Wizard you can get a free calculation, quick and independent predictions on the potential to generate electricity from rooftop solar panels for your home or business.
Solar panels work best in direct sunlight, though they will still generate some electricity even on overcast days.
The average household in the UK uses around 2,700 kilowatt hours of electricity each year, according to Ofgem’s estimates.
A solar panel system that generates up to 5 kilowatts of electricity per hour is estimated to produce around 4,500 kilowatt hours of electricity each year in the south of England. This number will vary depending on factors like how large your system is, the angle of your panels and how sunny it is.
Unless you have a battery, you won’t be able to store excess energy generated by your panels. This means you will probably still need to buy some electricity at night or during the day when you are running power-hungry appliances that are using more electricity than your panels are generating.
The electricity that a rooftop solar panel system generates is first used to power the home it is installed on. This means drawing less electricity from the grid, saving the household money on its energy bills.
Electricity that is generated by solar panels but not immediately used is exported to the National Grid. In England, the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) pays the owners of solar panels for the electricity they export to the grid.
The average solar panel system that is installed on a home in the UK can generate up to 3.5 kilowatts of electricity per hour and should last for about 25 years.
According to the Energy Saving Trust, the cost to install this system would currently be around £7,000. But the exact price depends on the size of the system you want, the panels you go for, and how easy it is to access the roof.
Despite these costs, people who install rooftop solar panels may still save money over the lifetime of the panels when energy bill savings are accounted for.
You should ensure that any individual or company that quotes to install solar panels on your home is accredited under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS).
This accreditation scheme was created to help make sure small-scale renewable energy installations, like solar panels and heat pumps, meet universal quality standards.
Learn more about the scheme and find an accredited installer on the MCS website.
Solar panels on the roofs of homes are usually considered to be ‘permitted development’, meaning you usually wouldn’t need planning permission.
There can be exceptions, such as if your home is listed or in a conservation area, and you may need planning permission in those circumstances. Find more information on our planning application process webpage.
We have approved planning applications for solar panels and other sustainable technologies on homes that are listed and in conservation areas however every building is unique and so each planning application (if required) will have individual considerations.
Other than a semi-annual cleaning solar panels need little maintenance or upkeep. These units can operate safely for over two decades without a tune up. Find more information on the Energy Saving Trust’s comprehensive guide to solar panels.
Manufacturing solar panels releases greenhouse gases. Once the panels have been installed, the electricity they produce immediately begins to save carbon emissions when compared to fossil fuels burned to generate that same amount of energy.
It takes one to four years on average for a solar panel to prevent, or ‘save’, the same amount of carbon that was emitted during its manufacture. This is known as its ‘carbon pay back’ period.
Sources:
We commissioned AbSolar to assess non-domestic roofs in the borough to see how many solar panels they could be suitable for.
The study suggested that, if all non-domestic rooftops were fitted with solar panels, they could generate around 9.7% of current residential and industrial electricity consumption.
Find out more on our Solar panel study webpage.
To request a report from this study for a non-domestic building that you own or rent get in touch with our climate change team. To learn more about how it may be possible to get panels installed on these buildings’ roofs for free visit our community energy webpage.
Solar farms are large scale, ground-mounted solar panel installations. Solar Energy UK has produced guidance on how solar farms could be designed, implemented, and managed in the long term to benefit biodiversity. This guidance has been endorsed by the National Farmers’ Union and can be found at Natural Capital Best Practice Guidance.
Ground-mounted solar panels currently cover an estimated 0.1%, or 230 km2 , of land in the UK.
According to Solar Energy UK, approximately six acres of land is required for every megawatt (MW) of power that is currently produced by existing solar farms.
If the Government’s solar targets for 2035 are achieved, which would see a fivefold increase in the amount of energy it generates with solar panels, solar panels would take up just under 0.4% of land in the UK.
The land for solar farms remains classified as ‘agricultural’ and can return to agricultural use in the longer term. Where a solar farm is placed on agricultural land, there is often a condition that it should be reverted to its original land use at the end of the project. Solar farms should be built with a decommissioning strategy in mind, to ensure the site is fully restored to its former state. Conditions can include the removal of all equipment to a depth of one metre underground and the repair of any land drains impacted by the decommissioning.
Sources and references:
Receive information on council services, news and events by email.
Subscribe© 2026 Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council