Solar · Battery · EV — Hampshire
Solar Panels Farnborough
Solar panels, battery storage and EV chargers for homes in and around Farnborough — designed from your actual usage, installed by an MCS-certified team, and explained in plain English before you commit to anything.
Farnborough is where British aviation began: Samuel Cody made the country's first powered aeroplane flight here in 1908, and the airfield still hosts the Farnborough International Airshow, with the FAST museum keeping that history alive. Away from the runway it's a practical, well-connected Hampshire town of 60,652 people at the 2021 Census — one that grew from a village of around 400 in 1830 once the railway arrived, and sits about nine miles from Guildford as the crow flies. We quote for solar on homes in and around all of it.
We won't tell you Farnborough is a solar hotspot, because it isn't — and neither is anywhere else in Britain. What the town does have is the Met Office's own airfield weather station, running since 1914, whose 1991-2020 averages record 1,588.9 hours of sunshine a year: entirely workable light for modern solar panels, which generate in ordinary UK weather. If your roof suits panels we'll say so and show you the numbers; if it doesn't, we'll tell you that too — no pressure, just clear advice.
Solar on Farnborough's housing
Much of Farnborough is 20th-century suburban housing from the town's RAE-era growth — Cove, West Heath and Southwood largely date from that expansion — alongside older streets around South Farnborough and Farnborough Street. Tenure is shifting too: ONS Census 2021 figures for Rushmoor show owner-occupation at 60.5% (down from 63.5% in 2011) and private renting up 3.9 percentage points to 21.5%, a bigger rise than neighbouring Hart saw. That shapes who can act on solar here: owner-occupiers can usually proceed straight from a survey, tenants need their landlord on board, and leaseholders in flats will generally need freeholder consent before anything is fixed to the roof.
Five of Rushmoor's nine conservation areas sit in Farnborough — Farnborough Hill, Farnborough Street, Manor Park, St Michael's Abbey and South Farnborough — where planning controls are tighter, Article 4 directions can remove some permitted development rights, and the Planning Portal's rule applies: panels must not be fitted to a wall fronting a highway, though roof installs usually remain permitted development. On energy performance, analysis of the government EPC register for neighbouring Aldershot shows band C as the most common rating, 62% of homes at C or above, an average score of 71 and a typical improvement potential of around 12 points — real headroom, in an area where 89% of assessed homes heat with mains gas. Most Farnborough roofs are straightforward; the conservation areas just need a little more care.
What Rushmoor Borough Council is doing
Rushmoor Borough Council declared a climate emergency in June 2019 — with, in the council's own words, the full support of all councillors — and set a 2030 carbon-neutral target. Its current framework is the Climate Change Strategy 2025-2028 and matching Action Plan 2025-2028. For homeowners, the more practical pages are the council's 'Do I need planning permission?' guide, which lists solar panels among common projects and links through to the Planning Portal, and its energy-efficiency pages, which signpost the Warmer Homes: Local Grant programme, Hampshire's Hitting the Cold Spots service, the Environment Centre, My Home Made Better retrofit advice (which explicitly covers renewable generation such as solar panels), means-tested home improvement grants of up to £5,000 for heating, and the Great British Insulation Scheme.
Hampshire County Council separately ran Solar Together, a group-buying scheme with iChoosr that had installed over 28,400 solar panels on Hampshire homes by August 2024, on the county's own figures. The old Solar Together Hampshire address now redirects to Switch Together's solar and battery pages, so check the current round's status before counting on it — and note that Rushmoor's own energy-efficiency page doesn't list the scheme. If your home sits in one of Farnborough's conservation areas, the council offers pre-application planning advice at plan@rushmoor.gov.uk or on 01252 398 788.
Local facts, sourced
Farnborough in numbers
Every figure below comes from a named public source — the same standard we hold our savings estimates to.
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The Met Office weather station at Farnborough airfield, operating since 1914, records 1,588.9 sunshine hours a year on the 1991-2020 averages — workable light for modern panels, though no UK town is unusually sunny.
Source: Met Office 1991-2020 averages for the Farnborough airfield station (via Wikipedia's Farnborough, Hampshire climate table)
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Rushmoor declared a climate emergency in June 2019 with the full support of all councillors and holds a 2030 carbon-neutral target; its current documents are the Climate Change Strategy 2025-2028 and Action Plan 2025-2028.
Source: Rushmoor Borough Council climate change pages + CAPE climate emergency register
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Five of Rushmoor's nine conservation areas are in Farnborough — Farnborough Hill, Farnborough Street, Manor Park, St Michael's Abbey and South Farnborough — with tighter planning controls, possible Article 4 directions, and six weeks' notice required for conservation-area tree works.
Source: Rushmoor Borough Council, Conservation areas
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Solar Together Hampshire, the county's group-buying scheme with iChoosr, had installed over 28,400 solar panels on Hampshire homes by August 2024; its old address now redirects to Switch Together, so check the current round's status.
Source: Hampshire County Council news, 19 August 2024 + live redirect check
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ONS Census 2021: owner-occupation in Rushmoor stands at 60.5% (down from 63.5% in 2011), private renting is up 3.9 percentage points to 21.5%, and the borough's population grew 6.3% to around 99,800.
Source: ONS, How life has changed in Rushmoor: Census 2021
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ONS puts Rushmoor's average house price at £319,000 in April 2026 (provisional) — broadly flat year-on-year and below the South East average of £377,000; detached homes average £602,000, semis £392,000, terraces £321,000 and flats £192,000.
Source: ONS, Housing prices in Rushmoor (page updated 17 June 2026)
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The electricity distribution network operator for Farnborough, as for the rest of Hampshire, is SSEN — its southern network serves over 3.1 million customers across central southern England, and G98/G99 solar connection notifications go to SSEN, not UK Power Networks.
Source: SSEN (ssen.co.uk)
Data last reviewed: July 2026
Where we work around Farnborough
We quote for homes in and around Farnborough, including Cove, Southwood, West Heath, North Camp, South Farnborough and Farnborough Street, across the GU14 postcode district. Every quote starts with a free survey of your actual roof and usage — if solar wouldn't pay its way on your home, we'll say so plainly. Try the numbers first on our savings calculator, or read how we approach installations across Hampshire.
Farnborough solar questions
Do I need planning permission for solar panels in Farnborough's conservation areas?
Usually not for a roof install. Rooftop solar is normally permitted development, and the Planning Portal confirms that in a conservation area the key restriction is that panels must not be fitted to a wall which fronts a highway — roof installations usually remain permitted even facing the road. Farnborough has five conservation areas (Farnborough Hill, Farnborough Street, Manor Park, St Michael's Abbey and South Farnborough), and Article 4 directions can remove some permitted development rights there, so it's worth checking first. Rushmoor offers pre-application advice at plan@rushmoor.gov.uk or on 01252 398 788.
Which electricity network covers Farnborough?
The distribution network operator (DNO) for Hampshire is SSEN — its southern network serves over 3.1 million customers across central southern England, on SSEN's own figures. That matters because your installer must notify the DNO about a new solar system: smaller installs go through a G98 notification after the work, while larger systems need G99 approval from SSEN before installation. It's paperwork your installer should handle, but it's useful to know which network you're on — Farnborough addresses sit with SSEN, not UK Power Networks.
Is there a council solar scheme in Farnborough?
Not one run by Rushmoor itself. Hampshire County Council ran Solar Together, a group-buying scheme with iChoosr that had installed over 28,400 panels on Hampshire homes by August 2024, by the county's own count. The old Solar Together Hampshire address now redirects to Switch Together's solar and battery pages, so check the current round's status before relying on it. Rushmoor's own energy pages instead point residents to the Warmer Homes: Local Grant programme, Hitting the Cold Spots, and My Home Made Better retrofit advice — which explicitly covers renewable generation such as solar panels.
Does Farnborough get enough sun for solar panels?
Yes — though we'd never claim it's unusually sunny, because nowhere in Britain is. The Met Office has run a weather station at Farnborough airfield since 1914, and its 1991-2020 averages record 1,588.9 hours of sunshine a year. That's plenty for modern panels, which still generate on cloudy days, just at lower output. The honest picture: a well-oriented, unshaded roof in Farnborough performs much like one anywhere in southern England — the survey, not the postcode, decides whether solar makes sense for your home.
Do you fit solar panels in Farnborough?
We quote for homes in and around Farnborough — the town sits about nine miles from Guildford as the crow flies, roughly ten to eleven by road. It's a distinctive place: birthplace of British powered flight in 1908, home of the Farnborough International Airshow, and part of a borough that declared a climate emergency in June 2019 with a 2030 carbon-neutral target. If you'd like a straight assessment of your roof — including being told plainly if solar isn't right for it — get in touch and we'll run the numbers.
Nearby
We also cover solar panels in Aldershot, solar installation Fleet and Camberley solar and battery installers.