Solar Panels in Devon

A south-facing roof in Exeter generates about 1,060 kWh per kWp a year on the EU's PVGIS model, and every unit you use saves 26.58p at the South Western England price cap rate. A typical 4.5kWp system would make about 4,770 kWh a year.

How much electricity solar panels make in Devon

A south-facing 1kWp system at 35 degrees in Exeter generates about 1,060 kWh a year, according to the EU's PVGIS model. That ranks 5 of the 31 areas we cover, which run from 850 kWh in Glasgow to 1,177 kWh in Sussex. East and west roofs still work, at roughly a fifth less.

PVGIS is a modelled figure for an unshaded roof with 14% system losses, and it runs higher than the MCS method installers must use for your written estimate, which gives roughly 800 to 950 kWh per kWp for a well-oriented UK roof. Use PVGIS to compare places and the installer's MCS estimate to plan your budget. Our guides to which direction panels should face and how much electricity solar panels produce go further.

What that electricity is worth in Devon

Every unit you use yourself saves 26.58p, the Ofgem price cap rate for direct debit customers in the South Western England region from 1 October to 31 December 2026. The Great Britain average is 26.32p. Every unit you export earns whatever your Smart Export Guarantee tariff pays, which the Energy Saving Trust puts at around 12p typically.

Take the Energy Saving Trust's typical 4.5kWp home system. On the PVGIS figure for Devon it would generate about 4,770 kWh a year. If you used all of it, that would be worth about £1,268. If you exported all of it, about £572. Real homes sit between the two, and a battery or daytime use pushes you towards the higher figure. The Energy Saving Trust prices that typical system at around £7,600. See our solar panel cost guide and current export rates.

Rural Devon, Exeter and Plymouth are three different solar markets

South Hams had 7,754 solar installations across 39,300 households at the end of 2025, about 197 per 1,000 by our count from the government's local authority table, the highest rate of any local authority in England and the third highest in the UK, out of 361 local authorities. Mid Devon is second in England at about 184 per 1,000, and Torridge, West Devon and North Devon are all in the UK's top 15. Counting Plymouth and Torbay, Devon had 63,055 installations and 888 MW across 530,100 households, about 119 per 1,000 against a UK average of about 69. Strip out Plymouth and Torbay and the eight remaining Devon districts run at about 142 per 1,000. The government warns that its 2025 figures were produced before the latest postcode lookup, so 31,900 installations across Great Britain are still unassigned and these counts will be revised upward.

The cities sit lower. Exeter had 5,911 installations across 52,500 households, about 113 per 1,000, which is still well above the UK average and around 51st of 361 local authorities. Plymouth had 9,509 across 114,600 households, about 83 per 1,000. Both grew in 2025. The wider South West added 17,539 installations in 2026 up to July and ranked second among UK regions, according to government figures.

A detached county, two terraced cities, and no gas in a quarter of homes

26% of Devon's homes are off the gas grid, against 16% nationally, according to the Net Zero Devon report for the Devon Climate Emergency partnership. If you heat with oil or LPG, solar on its own still only cuts the electricity bill, but paired with a heat pump it covers part of the heating too, and that is where an off-gas Devon home gains most. Our guide to heat pump costs covers the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

The housing splits the county from its cities. Census 2021 counted 352,618 households in the Devon county area, 35.8% of them detached and 22.7% terraced, plus 3,179 households living in a caravan or other mobile structure. Exeter is close to the reverse: of 52,551 households only 15.1% are detached, 31.3% are terraced and 19.6% are in purpose-built flats. Plymouth, with 114,558 households, is the most terrace and flat heavy of the three: 11.4% detached, 32.8% terraced, 16.2% in purpose-built flats. A detached house in Mid Devon is a straightforward quote. A Plymouth terrace means a smaller roof and often a shared or stepped roofline, and a flat means a freeholder to ask, which our guide to solar panels for flats covers.

Grants: most of Devon's Warm Homes funding has already closed

Devon County Council's Warm Homes: Local Grant does fund solar PV, but applications in East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, Teignbridge and Torbay are now closed, and North Devon and Torridge do not open until January 2027. Everywhere else in the county scheme you can only register interest. To qualify, a home needs an EPC of D or below plus either a qualifying benefit, a household income under £36,000 before tax, or the after-housing-costs threshold, with households holding under £16,000 in capital prioritised. One detail worth knowing before you plan around it: the scheme picks the installer, not you.

Plymouth sits outside the county scheme and runs its own. Plymouth City Council was allocated £2.5 million, expects it to reach more than 200 homes, and lists solar panels among the measures; the home must be privately owned with an EPC of D to G and household income is usually £36,000 a year or less, or a qualifying benefit or postcode. The council-backed body delivering it says plainly that funding is limited and that being eligible is no guarantee of getting it, so a Plymouth homeowner who wants panels this year should not treat the grant as the plan. If you do not qualify anywhere in Devon, Lendology, a not-for-profit lender working with Devon councils, offers energy-efficiency loans of £500 to £20,000 over up to 15 years at a fixed rate with no early repayment charge, paid to an installer of your own choosing. Our guide to solar panel grants in the UK has the national schemes.

Planning: two national parks, a World Heritage Site and Plymouth's post-war heritage

Dartmoor National Park Authority allows roof and wall panels without planning permission as long as nothing sits above the roof ridgeline and nothing projects more than 200mm. Inside its conservation areas, panels are not permitted on any wall fronting a highway, nothing is permitted anywhere within the curtilage of a listed building, and panels on a listed building need listed building consent. Exmoor National Park Authority, which reaches into north Devon, goes further and says it would often rather see a well-screened freestanding array in an enclosed garden than visually intrusive roof panels, even though the ground mount is the option that needs permission. It asks for matte rather than shiny panels, rear roof slopes, nothing above the highest part of the roof and no more than 200mm projection, and nothing on a scheduled monument.

West Devon carries a double designation: Area A10 of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, the Tamar Valley mining district with Tavistock, which is also a National Landscape. Plymouth is the other place to check before you commission a survey. The council names solar panels among the alterations that may need its permission in a conservation area, the city has 15 conservation areas, its city centre was designated in 2019 as the first post-war city-centre conservation area in the country, and Plymouth holds the highest number of twentieth-century listed buildings in the country. A 1950s Plymouth house is more likely than most to be caught by heritage controls. Elsewhere the English rules apply: rooftop solar on a house is usually permitted development, conservation areas restrict walls facing a highway rather than roof slopes, and a flat roof on article 2(3) land needs prior approval. See our guides to permitted development, conservation areas and listed buildings.

Your network operator in Devon

Devon's network is run by National Grid Electricity Distribution, formerly Western Power Distribution, whose South West licence area covers about 14,400 square kilometres and roughly 1.4 million customers, from Exeter and Plymouth out across Dartmoor and Exmoor. Devon is fed through the Exeter, Abham and Landulph grid supply points. An ordinary rooftop system under 16A per phase uses the G98 fit-and-notify route, so nothing has to be approved before it goes in, but National Grid must be notified within 28 days of commissioning on a form it says takes about 10 to 15 minutes online, with instant acknowledgement.

Your installer normally files it, but ask to see the acknowledgement: it is the proof your system is registered, and your Smart Export Guarantee supplier will want it along with your MCS certificate. See our G98 and G99 guide. Next door, see solar panels in Cornwall, solar panels in Somerset and solar panels in Dorset.

Getting solar quotes in Devon

Get at least three written quotes from MCS-certified installers, each with a performance estimate for your roof and a full breakdown of what is supplied. The Renewable Energy Consumer Code recommends quotes from at least 3 different companies, limits its members to a deposit of no more than 25% of the contract price, and says a reputable company will never make you feel pressured into signing. Our guide to choosing a solar installer covers what to check.

Sources for this page

Local sources checked on 23 October 2026. Solar yields: PVGIS 5.2, EU Joint Research Centre, modelled October 2026. Electricity prices: Ofgem price cap by region. System cost and export rate: Energy Saving Trust. Local sources:

• DESNZ: Renewable electricity by local authority, 2014 to 2025
• DESNZ: first regional solar breakdown, 27 August 2026
• Census 2021 TS044 accommodation type: Devon, Exeter, Plymouth (Nomis)
• Devon Climate Emergency: Net Zero Devon report
• Energy Saving Devon: Warm Homes: Local Grant status by district
• Energy Saving Devon: apply for a loan
• Plymouth City Council: free energy upgrades offered to Plymouth homes
• GOV.UK: apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant
• Dartmoor National Park Authority: solar panels planning guidance
• Exmoor National Park Authority: domestic solar PV advice
• Plymouth City Council: conservation areas
• Cornish Mining World Heritage Site: Tamar Valley with Tavistock
• National Grid Electricity Distribution: South West licence area report
• National Grid: micro-generation G98 notification