Planning requirements

Since April 2008, there have been important changes to planning requirements for domestic microgeneration systems.

Planning permission is not required for ground mounted systems if they confirm to specific criteria:
  • Maximum 4m high
  • Minimum 5m from any public or private boundary
  • Maximum solar array size of 3m x 3m, up to 9m squared
  • Must not be visible from a public highway in a conservation area or world heritage site.

If your proposed site is not within these criteria, you will need to obtain planning permission prior to installation.

For roof mounted systems, planning permission is not required unless:
  • The solar panels project more than 20cm above the plane of the roof, nor above the highest part of the roof, excluding chimney.
  • The property is in a conservation area and the proposed installation is on the actual wall of the building, not sloping roof, and would be visible from the public highway (ie. installations on roofslopes do not need permission, even if visible from the public highway).
  • The property is a listed building

 

If in doubt, it is advisable to contact your local authority.

Apart from fulfilling the criteria above, for optimum performance, your solar system should be installed south facing, and not receive any shade throughout the day from buildings, walls, trees, fences etc. Any shading for even part of the day, or installations not facing due south, will result in less efficient power generation.

Is your site suitable?

If you are interested in installing one of our systems, we require that you send in to us photographs showing clearly the proposed location(s) for your system so we can check that the site is suitable.

Ideally the proposed site should be within 20m of your consumer unit. We also require that you submit a photograph of your consumer unit, which will need a spare way. (If there is no spare way, you may need an additional small consumer unit). This is so we can determine that it is feasible to connect the solar system to your house. 

The enquiry application form with options to upload photographs can be found here. Alternatively you can complete and print the form and then post it in to us for checking.