Is there enough sun in Chatham to make this work?

Modelled at 920 kWh per kWp a year for a shallow-pitched roof at this latitude, which puts a 500 kWp array at roughly 460,000 kWh a year before shading. That array needs about 1,485 sqm of clear roof once walkways and setbacks are allowed for. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

Who do we apply to for export in Chatham?

Capacity varies street by street, and only UK Power Networks can answer it for your connection. We ask the question early, because an export-limited offer changes the design rather than killing the scheme.

Do we need planning permission in Medway?

In most cases no, because roof-mounted panels on commercial buildings sit within permitted development. The exceptions are listed buildings, conservation areas and arrays that stand proud of the roof plane. We check with Medway first either way.

Solar panels for warehouses in Chatham

What makes a Chatham scheme work is rarely the panels. It is the condition of the roof underneath them. Each survey records the cladding profile, the usable area once rooflights and plant are removed, and the export limit worth applying for.

920 kWh per kWp a year at this latitude, so a 500 kWp array models at about 460,000 kWh. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.

Book a roof survey in Chatham

Drawing Chatham unit

Roof 96 x 62 m

Array 500 kWp

Yield 460,000 kWh/yr

Scale 1:500 / Rev A / ME5

Illustrative layout for a unit of this size. Your own figures come from the roof survey.

Chatham / Kent

Home Counties distribution estate with solar arrays on several unit roofs — Industrial stock of the kind we survey across South East.

Logistics solar PV across Kent

What a roof in Chatham actually generates

Modelled irradiation at this latitude is 1180 kWh per square metre a year in the plane of a shallow-pitched roof, which works out at 920 kWh for every kWp installed (EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss). That is around 4 percent above the mean across the towns we cover, which is as good as UK rooftop gets outside the south coast.

Surveys run across ME postcodes, ME5 outward.

Medway is the planning authority for most sites here, and the built-up area holds a population of about 76,955, so the stock here runs to trade counters, light industrial terraces and the occasional larger shed (ONS Census 2021 built-up areas).

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

Jul produces 5.8 times what Dec does on the same roof. A 500 kWp array here models at about 460,000 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	500 kWp array
Jan	24	12,000
Feb	38	19,000
Mar	73	36,500
Apr	107	53,500
May	122	61,000
Jun	127	63,500
Jul	128	64,000
Aug	108	54,000
Sep	86	43,000
Oct	53	26,500
Nov	31	15,500
Dec	22	11,000

Source: EU PVGIS v5.2

FIG. 2 Chatham against the rest of Kent

Dover972
Canterbury961
Maidstone930
Tunbridge Wells930
Tonbridge927
Gravesend926
Chatham920
Sevenoaks920
Dartford915

Chatham ranks 10 of 12 towns we cover in Kent on modelled yield, against a national mean of 886 kWh per kWp. The county runs from 915 to 990, a spread of 75 kWh per kWp. On a 500 kWp array that is about 37,500 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

Grid connection through UK Power Networks

UK Power Networks is the network operator here, and their answer on export capacity shapes the design. Any commercial array above 3.68 kW per phase connects under G99 rather than G98, and the application fixes what you are allowed to push back onto the network. If the local network is tight, limiting export rarely breaks the case here: most of the generation is consumed on site while the building is working.

Across Kent the planning database records 237 solar schemes totalling 2072 MW, of which 45 are operational (REPD Q1 2026).

Book the survey

Send us the postcode

Tell us where the unit is and roughly how big the roof is. 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.

Questions about solar in Chatham

Is there enough sun in Chatham to make this work?: Modelled at 920 kWh per kWp a year for a shallow-pitched roof at this latitude, which puts a 500 kWp array at roughly 460,000 kWh a year before shading. That array needs about 1,485 sqm of clear roof once walkways and setbacks are allowed for. Source: EU PVGIS v5.2, SARAH3, 10 degree pitch, 14 percent system loss.
Who do we apply to for export in Chatham?: Capacity varies street by street, and only UK Power Networks can answer it for your connection. We ask the question early, because an export-limited offer changes the design rather than killing the scheme.
Do we need planning permission in Medway?: In most cases no, because roof-mounted panels on commercial buildings sit within permitted development. The exceptions are listed buildings, conservation areas and arrays that stand proud of the roof plane. We check with Medway first either way.

Nearby

All Kent locations