Leicestershire commercial solar: what the DESNZ local-authority data says about who has installed

DESNZ's “Renewable electricity by local authority” series (latest release 30 September 2025, covering 2014–2024) counts every photovoltaic site and its capacity by council area. For Leicester city it shows 7,558 sites and 29.1 MW at the end of 2024, against 5,464 sites and 20.9 MW in 2020: 38% more sites, 39% more capacity in four years. It is the starting point for commercial solar in Leicestershire.

What the average site size says

29.1 MW across 7,558 sites is about 3.8 kW per site. That is a rooftop-dominated, largely residential profile for the city itself; the large commercial and ground-mount arrays sit in the county districts. Compare Tunbridge Wells, where 48.2 MW over 3,330 sites gives 14.5 kW per site — a borough whose capacity is carried by a few large arrays. The Leicester number says the corridor roofs are still mostly uncovered.

The roofs that are still bare

Distribution sheds at Magna Park, Lutterworth and along the M69 at Hinckley carry 20,000–40,000 m² of low-pitch roof each. At the PVGIS figure for Leicester — 980 kWh per kWp at 35°, 885 at a 10° commercial pitch — a single 500kWp shed array generates about 440,000–490,000 kWh a year. The constraint is rarely the roof: it is the site's daytime demand and the export capacity National Grid Electricity Distribution's East Midlands network will grant at the substation.

What it means for the finance decision

• Owner-occupiers with daytime load: capital purchase or a green loan keeps the Annual Investment Allowance and the export income; the England rates exclusion means the array adds nothing to the bill to 2035.
• Tenants on ten-year logistics leases: an operating lease or a landlord-funded array with a rent adjustment; the allowances go to whoever incurs the spend.
• Multi-site estates: a portfolio facility priced at one margin over Bank Rate (3.75%) rather than site-by-site hire purchase.

Read next: commercial solar finance in Leicester and Leicestershire for the sourced table and routes, and commercial SEG rates for why surplus export is worth a fraction of avoided import.