Wales · checked 26 September 2026
Solar Canopies in Wales: Planning, Yields and Funding
Wales is the one part of Great Britain where a solar car park canopy has no permitted development route at all — the right everyone cites, Class OA, was created by an England-only order. That single fact changes a Welsh programme from the start. What partly offsets it is that south Wales has some of the best canopy yields in the UK, better than London, and that Welsh public bodies still have an open capital funding route where England has none.
In short
- Planning permission is required. There is no Welsh canopy permitted development right; the Welsh stand-alone solar right stops at 9 m² of panels.
- Yields are good: Cardiff 946, Newport 938, Swansea 921 kWh/kWp at a 10° pitch — above London's 920.
- Two network operators: National Grid Electricity Distribution in the south, SP Energy Networks (SP Manweb) in the north. Always G99.
- Funding is better than England's: the Wales Funding Programme is open; England's PSDS has been closed since November 2024.
- Rates: the plant exception runs from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2035 under W.S.I. 2023/1229.
The planning position, and why the English answer is wrong here
Almost every guide to canopy planning on the UK internet describes Class OA: the right to put a solar canopy above off-street non-domestic parking subject to prior approval, with a 4 m height limit and a 10 m separation from the curtilage of a dwellinghouse. That right is real, and it is England only. It was inserted into the England GPDO by S.I. 2023/1279 in December 2023. Nothing equivalent was made for Wales.
What Wales does have is a permitted development right for stand-alone solar in the grounds of a non-domestic building. Its limits, as the Welsh Government publishes them, make it useless for a car park canopy:
- No more than 9 m² of installation — or 3 m wide by 3 m deep.
- No part higher than 4 m.
- At least 5 m from the boundary.
- Not within 3 km of an aerodrome or technical site.
- Only the first installation qualifies; a second needs permission.
- Panels must not be installed within the boundary of a listed building or scheduled monument, and in designated areas must not be nearer a highway than the building itself.
- Conditions on minimising amenity and glint and glare impacts, and removal when no longer needed.
A canopy over four standard bays is already around 46 m² of deck. The 9 m² cap is not a threshold a commercial canopy can be designed under — it is an exclusion. So the honest planning answer in Wales is: a full planning application, every time. Roof-mounted solar on a non-domestic building is a separate matter and does have Welsh permitted development coverage; a canopy is not a building roof.
Practically, that means the Welsh programme front-loads differently from an English one. Instead of a 56-day prior approval determination, you are into a full application with pre-application engagement, a design and access statement where required, a glint and glare assessment, and the local development plan's renewable energy policies to argue against. Budget for the consultant time and, more importantly, for the calendar. The English sequence is on our solar carport planning permission page — read it as the contrast case, not the template.
What a Welsh canopy will generate
This is the part of the Welsh picture that surprises people. A shallow canopy pitch in south Wales out-yields London:
| Location | kWh/kWp/yr at 10° pitch | Network operator |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff | 946 | National Grid Electricity Distribution |
| Newport | 938 | National Grid Electricity Distribution |
| Swansea | 921 | National Grid Electricity Distribution |
| London (for comparison) | 920 | — |
| Birmingham (for comparison) | 875 | — |
| Glasgow (for comparison) | 772 | — |
Modelled in PVGIS 5.3 for crystalline silicon at a 10° tilt with 14% system loss, due south, free-standing. A 170 kWp canopy over 100 bays in Cardiff therefore models at roughly 161,000 kWh a year before site-specific shading — about 17% more than the same canopy in Glasgow. The sizing arithmetic behind that capacity figure is on our car park solar canopies page.
City-level detail, including local network and site considerations, sits on our Cardiff, Newport and Swansea pages.
Grid connection: two operators, one rule
Wales is split between two distribution network operators. South Wales — Cardiff, Newport, Swansea and the valleys — is National Grid Electricity Distribution, the former Western Power Distribution. North Wales is SP Energy Networks, under the SP Manweb licence that also covers Merseyside and Cheshire. Mid-Wales boundaries are not tidy, and the operator is a function of the supply rather than the county, so check the actual connection rather than inferring it from the address.
The rule itself is the same either side of the boundary: G98 stops at 16 A per phase — about 3.68 kW single-phase and 11.04 kW three-phase — so every commercial canopy is a G99 application requiring the operator's approval before installation, not a notification afterwards. It costs nothing to submit and it is normally the critical path, which matters more in Wales than in England because the planning route is longer too: run both in parallel or the programme becomes the sum of them rather than the longer of them.
Funding: where Wales is ahead of England
For a public sector body this is the reverse of the planning story. England's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme closed to new applications in November 2024 and no successor has been announced. Welsh bodies still have live routes:
| Scheme | Administered by | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Wales Funding Programme | Salix | Open for applications | Loan funding for public sector energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects. This is the route that has no English equivalent — England has no open public-sector capital scheme for this work at all. |
| Wales Funding Programme — Great British Energy | Salix | Delivering | An additional £9 million for decarbonisation and renewable energy projects. |
| Digarbon | Salix | Delivering (Round 3 closed) | A £20 million loan scheme for decarbonisation in the tertiary education sector. |
| Top up funding for renewable energy projects (Ymestyn) | Welsh Government Energy Service | Listed — check the scheme page | Top-up funding for renewable energy projects. Amounts and windows are not stated on the Energy Service grant index, so confirm on the individual scheme page before relying on it. |
| Smart local energy systems capital grant (Ynni Cymru) | Welsh Government Energy Service | Listed — check the scheme page | Capital grant for smart local energy systems, open to public sector bodies and community groups. |
| Zero emission vehicle and EV charging infrastructure grant | Welsh Government Energy Service | Listed — check the scheme page | Relevant where the canopy carries charging. Sits alongside the UK-wide Workplace Charging Scheme rather than replacing it. |
Two cautions. None of these schemes is canopy-specific, and none of the published scheme descriptions names solar canopies — so eligibility for a canopy has to be established with the administrator rather than assumed from a scheme title. And the Energy Service grant index does not publish amounts or windows, so the individual scheme page is the only reliable source for whether something is genuinely open. The wider funding picture, including the routes open to private businesses, is on our solar canopy grants and funding page.
Business rates in Wales
Qualifying on-site renewable generation plant is excepted from rating valuations in Wales under W.S.I. 2023/1229, from 1 April 2024 and for any day before 1 April 2035. England's equivalent started on 1 April 2022 and Scotland's on 1 April 2023, so a Welsh site's exception is the newest of the three but ends on the same date.
As everywhere, the exception removes qualifying plant from the valuation rather than exempting the property: the land and settings stay rateable, above about 50 kW the supports and settings are valued, and no published guidance says how a canopy's steel frame is treated. For EV charging, the Welsh Government announced on 11 August 2026 a 100% relief for charging point parking bays and forecourts to 31 March 2036, backdatable to 1 April 2024 where relevant — but it excludes properties used for a broader purpose, so a car park containing some chargers under one assessment does not qualify. Full detail on our solar canopy business rates page.
Six claims to be wary of in Wales
| Claim you will see | What the source says |
|---|---|
| "Solar canopies are permitted development across the UK." | They are not permitted development in Wales. Class OA was inserted into the England-only GPDO by S.I. 2023/1279 and applies in England alone. Scotland has its own right, Class 9M. Wales has neither, so a Welsh canopy needs planning permission. |
| "Wales has a stand-alone solar permitted development right, so a canopy is covered." | It does, but it is capped at 9 m² of panels — or 3 m wide by 3 m deep — with a 4 m height limit, a 5 m setback from the boundary, and only the first installation qualifying. A canopy over even four parking bays is several times that area. |
| "Wales gets less sun, so canopies work less well there." | The opposite, in the south. At a 10° canopy pitch PVGIS models Cardiff at about 946 kWh/kWp a year, Newport 938 and Swansea 921 — all above London at about 920 and well above Birmingham at 875. |
| "PSDS funding is available for Welsh public bodies." | PSDS was an England scheme and it closed to new applications in November 2024 in any case. Wales has its own route — the Wales Funding Programme, which Salix lists as open for applications. |
| "The Welsh rates exemption started in April 2022, like England's." | Wales's exception for on-site renewable plant began on 1 April 2024 under W.S.I. 2023/1229, two years after England's. All three nations' exceptions end on 31 March 2035. |
| "EV charging bays in a Welsh car park get 100% rates relief." | Only where the bays or forecourt are assessed as their own property. The Welsh Government's 11 August 2026 statement excludes properties used for a broader purpose — such as a car park that includes some charging points under a single assessment. |
Solar canopies in Wales: questions
Do solar canopies need planning permission in Wales?
Yes. Wales has no permitted development right for a solar canopy over a car park. The canopy right that people cite — Class OA, requiring prior approval, 4 m maximum height, 10 m from a dwelling curtilage — was inserted into the England-only General Permitted Development Order by S.I. 2023/1279 in December 2023 and has no Welsh equivalent. The Welsh right for stand-alone non-domestic solar is capped at no more than 9 m² of panels, or 3 m wide by 3 m deep, with a 4 m height limit, a 5 m setback from the boundary, an exclusion within 3 km of an aerodrome, restrictions around listed buildings and scheduled monuments, and only the first installation qualifying. A car park canopy is far larger than that on every site, so a Welsh scheme is a full planning application from the outset.
How much does a solar canopy generate in Wales?
More than in most of England. At a typical 10-degree canopy pitch facing south, PVGIS 5.3 models about 946 kWh per kWp a year in Cardiff, 938 in Newport and 921 in Swansea, against about 920 in London, 875 in Birmingham and 772 in Glasgow. So a 170 kWp canopy over 100 bays in Cardiff models at roughly 161,000 kWh a year before site-specific shading. South Wales is one of the better-yielding parts of the UK for a shallow-pitched array.
Which DNO handles a Welsh solar canopy connection?
South Wales, including Cardiff, Newport and Swansea, is National Grid Electricity Distribution — the former Western Power Distribution. North Wales is SP Energy Networks, through the SP Manweb licence area that also covers Merseyside and Cheshire. Either way, anything above 16 A per phase needs a G99 application with approval before installation, so every commercial canopy is G99, never a G98 notification. Do not assign the network operator by county: check the actual supply.
What funding is available for a solar canopy in Wales?
For public sector bodies, more than in England. Salix lists the Wales Funding Programme — loan funding for energy efficiency and decarbonisation — as open for applications, alongside a £9 million Great British Energy addition that is delivering, and Digarbon, a £20 million loan scheme for tertiary education. The Welsh Government Energy Service separately lists grants including top-up funding for renewable energy projects (Ymestyn), the smart local energy systems capital grant (Ynni Cymru), and a zero emission vehicle and EV charging infrastructure grant. Amounts and application windows are on the individual scheme pages rather than the index, so confirm before building a business case around any of them. England, by contrast, has had no open public-sector capital scheme since PSDS closed in November 2024.
Do you pay business rates on a solar canopy in Wales?
Qualifying on-site renewable generation plant is excepted from rating valuations in Wales from 1 April 2024 under W.S.I. 2023/1229, and the exception applies to days before 1 April 2035. That is two years later than England's start date but the same end date. As elsewhere, the exception covers the plant rather than the property: the land and settings remain rateable, and no published guidance addresses how a canopy's steel frame is treated.
Is there rates relief for EV chargers under a Welsh canopy?
On 11 August 2026 the Welsh Government announced 100% relief for EV charging point parking bays and forecourts until 31 March 2036, backdatable to 1 April 2024 where relevant, awarded by councils under discretionary powers in 2026-27 with regulations intended to make it statutory from 2027-28. The important limit for a canopy project is that properties used for a broader purpose are excluded — a car park that merely includes some charging points under a single rating assessment does not qualify.
Sources
All checked on 26 September 2026.
- Welsh Government — stand-alone solar panel installations in the grounds of a non-domestic building
- S.I. 2023/1279 — the England-only order that created Class OA
- European Commission PVGIS 5.3 — yields at 10° tilt, crystalline silicon, 14% system loss
- W.S.I. 2023/1229 — renewables plant excepted from Welsh rating valuations
- Welsh Government written statement, 11 August 2026 — EV charging bay relief
- Welsh Government Energy Service — grants index
- Salix — public sector funding schemes in Wales
- Energy Networks Association — G98 and G99 connection guides
This is general information, not planning, engineering or rating advice. This site is published by SEO Dons Ltd; we are not an installer.
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