Chichester has the best solar yield of anywhere we work — 1,175 kWh per kWp a year, 15% ahead of Guildford. It also has the most complicated consenting picture: around 85 conservation areas, over 3,000 listed buildings, two-thirds of the district inside the South Downs National Park, and a National Landscape around the Harbour. Best sunshine, hardest paperwork.
A south-facing Chichester roof at around 35° generates roughly 1,175 kWh per year for every kWp installed — about 4,700 kWh from a 4 kWp array. That's the highest figure across all eleven towns we cover.
The gap is not trivial. An identical system on an identical roof produces around 15% more here than in Guildford and 13% more than in Winchester. Over a twenty-five year system life that difference is worth thousands, and it is the single strongest argument for solar on this coastal plain.
Where a conservation area or listing pushes an array onto a less-than-ideal slope, Chichester's underlying yield gives you more room to absorb the loss than anywhere else on our patch. An east/west array here still outperforms a south-facing one in Guildford.
| Town | kWh per kWp / year |
|---|---|
| Chichester | 1,175 |
| Portsmouth | 1,124 |
| Fareham | 1,117 |
| Bournemouth | 1,100 |
| Poole | 1,097 |
| Southampton | 1,080 |
| Salisbury | 1,046 |
| Winchester | 1,038 |
| Andover | 1,037 |
| Basingstoke | 1,031 |
| Guildford | 1,023 |
Source: European Commission PVGIS (v5.2), south-facing, 35° pitch, 14% system losses. Your own figure will differ with shading, pitch, orientation and roof area — the survey gives you a property-specific number, not this one.
Chichester has the most layered planning picture of anywhere we work, and it's routinely described wrongly. Here is how it really works.
Chichester Harbour was designated a National Landscape on 4 February 1964 and covers 3,700 hectares, of which 2,700 are in Chichester District. The Chichester Harbour Conservancy is consulted on all planning applications within the National Landscape and on those affecting its character and setting, reviewing roughly 300 applications a year — but it makes recommendations. Chichester District Council decides.
Usefully, the adopted Harbour supplementary planning document engages with solar directly rather than treating it as a threat. It notes that "it is now possible to obtain solar panels with dark as opposed to light aluminium surrounds/frameworks" — an explicit steer on what a sympathetic installation looks like here.
The council's own stock modelling gives an unusually clear picture: 57,685 dwellings in the district, 49,321 of them private sector, with an average SAP rating of 56 — band D. Some 13.2% of private sector homes, about 6,535 properties, fall below band E.
More practically: 12,107 dwellings still have un-insulated cavity walls and 7,232 have less than 100mm of loft insulation. For anyone considering a heat pump, that is the cheapest kilowatt-hour available and it comes before the heat pump, not after it.
The council puts fuel poverty in the district at around 10–11% of stock.
Chichester city, Bosham, West Itchenor, Birdham, East Wittering, Selsey, Tangmere, Boxgrove and the Manhood Peninsula. Every installation is MCS accredited.
Aiko ABC panels in all-black with dark frames — the specification the Harbour SPD itself points toward. With the best yield in our region behind it, a Chichester array earns more per panel than anywhere else we install, which changes the maths on a larger system.
Solar panels →Grant, Midea and Daikin. Given 12,107 district homes with un-insulated cavities, we survey fabric first and say so where insulation should come before the heat pump. Off-grid oil and LPG properties in the rural district attract up to £9,000 of BUS grant.
Heat pumps →Tesla Powerwall 3, Fox ESS and SigenEnergy. Chichester's strong summer yield means more genuine surplus than most of our patch — which makes storage a question of capturing what you're otherwise exporting at a low rate.
Battery storage →About 1,175 kWh per year for every kWp installed, on a south-facing roof pitched at around 35 degrees, according to the European Commission's PVGIS dataset — roughly 4,700 kWh from a 4 kWp array. That is the highest figure of the eleven towns we cover: around 15% more than Guildford and 13% more than Winchester for an identical system. Over a twenty-five year system life that difference is worth thousands.
It depends where you are, and it is commonly described wrongly. Over two-thirds of the district lies inside the South Downs National Park, and the South Downs National Park Authority has legally been the local planning authority for the Park since 1 April 2011. In practice, Chichester District Council deals with most planning applications within the district on behalf of the SDNPA under an agency agreement, so you submit to the district council either way. For the Chichester Harbour National Landscape, the Conservancy is a statutory consultee reviewing around 300 applications a year and makes recommendations only — Chichester District Council decides.
No, and this is the most common misconception we hear. National Park and National Landscape designation does not by itself remove permitted development rights for roof-mounted domestic solar. What restricts you is conservation area status, a listed building, a scheduled monument, or an Article 4 Direction. Nine Chichester parishes do carry Article 4 Directions — Bosham, Boxgrove, Earnley, Halnaker, Somerley, South Harting, Tangmere, West Itchenor and Wisborough Green — and in those an application should be assumed.
The adopted Harbour supplementary planning document engages with solar directly rather than treating it as a problem. It notes that it is now possible to obtain solar panels with dark rather than light aluminium surrounds and frameworks. We specify all-black modules with dark frames as standard around the Harbour for exactly that reason — it matches the council's own steer and removes the most common objection before it is raised.
The council's current figure is around 85 conservation areas, including those inside the National Park; its Local Plan and Historic Environment Strategy both say 86, of which 61 are within the Park. There are over 3,000 listed buildings — the Local Plan says over 3,200 — plus more than 200 scheduled monuments. Listed building consent is required separately from planning permission and applies regardless of permitted development rights.
Very often, yes. The council's own housing stock modelling found 12,107 district dwellings still have un-insulated cavity walls and 7,232 have less than 100mm of loft insulation, with the private sector averaging SAP band D. Insulation is the cheapest kilowatt-hour available and it comes before the heat pump, not after it. We survey fabric as part of the heat loss calculation and tell you plainly where insulation should come first.
Required to claim the BUS grant and to register for the Smart Export Guarantee. We are also RECC members.
1,175 kWh per kWp a year — the strongest solar case anywhere on our patch.
Family-run, with directly employed engineers. The people who survey your property are the people who install.
Survey to sign-off in one price, including scaffolding and the grid application. No hidden extras.
We will confirm which authority decides your application, whether an Article 4 Direction applies, and what your specific roof will generate — before anyone talks about price.
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