Solar Panels for UK Farm Buildings — by Building Type
Every UK farm building type has its own sizing, payback, and compliance profile. We deliver across all eight sub-verticals — from dairy parlour rooftops with 90%+ self-consumption to large multi-shed poultry and pig finisher installs. Pick your building type below.
Dairy Parlours & Milking Sheds
- System size
- 30–150 kW
- Project value
- £28,000–£135,000
- Payback
- 5 years
- Annual generation
- 27,000–138,000 kWh
Bulk tank cooling, vacuum pumps and parlour washdown run 24/7 — exceptional self-consumption (often 90%+)
Livestock & Cattle Sheds
- System size
- 30–250 kW
- Project value
- £28,000–£225,000
- Payback
- 6 years
- Annual generation
- 27,000–230,000 kWh
Modern clear-span livestock buildings have huge contiguous roof areas — often 800–1,500 sqm uninterrupted
Grain Stores & Arable Barns
- System size
- 50–500 kW
- Project value
- £45,000–£450,000
- Payback
- 6.5 years
- Annual generation
- 46,000–460,000 kWh
Modern grain stores often 1,000–3,000 sqm clear-span — among the largest commercial roofs in rural UK
Poultry & Broiler Sheds
- System size
- 50–300 kW
- Project value
- £45,000–£270,000
- Payback
- 5.5 years
- Annual generation
- 46,000–275,000 kWh
Free-range egg and broiler operations have huge clear-span roofs (typically 80m × 20m per shed)
Pig Units & Finisher Houses
- System size
- 40–250 kW
- Project value
- £36,000–£225,000
- Payback
- 6 years
- Annual generation
- 37,000–230,000 kWh
Climate-controlled finisher houses have high year-round ventilation and heating loads
Polytunnels & Glasshouses
- System size
- 100 kW–2 MW
- Project value
- £90,000–£1.8m
- Payback
- 5.5 years
- Annual generation
- 92,000–1.85m kWh
Heated glasshouses and protected horticulture have massive supplementary lighting and heating loads
Equestrian Arenas & Stables
- System size
- 20–150 kW
- Project value
- £22,000–£135,000
- Payback
- 7 years
- Annual generation
- 18,000–138,000 kWh
Indoor arena lighting and surface watering major loads
Farm Workshops & General Purpose Barns
- System size
- 20–150 kW
- Project value
- £22,000–£135,000
- Payback
- 7 years
- Annual generation
- 18,000–138,000 kWh
Welder, compressor, machine-shop loads spike during day — good PV match
Compare specifications, brands and design choices
Before committing to a system, work through the technology and design decisions that drive 25-year IRR. Eight side-by-side comparison guides written for UK farm operators:
Solar vs other on-farm energy options
Honest side-by-side comparisons against the other rural energy options farmers consider: