@toodles 

unfortunately our roof pitch is only 14 degrees (another reason winter solstice  production is pants) so rain and wind isn’t enough to wash everything off. 
love the idea of ground mount, but we don’t have an ideal spot unless I build a solar car port at the bottom of the drive. Did you need to apply for planning permission for it? 

@papahuhu I read the planning requirements very carefully and took advice. The wording refers to ‘Ground Mounted’ whereas my panels are resting on but not affixed to the ground. As such, I don’t comply due to the very restrictive requirements of a limitation on the square meterage and distance from the boundary with my neighbours …. no planning inspectors have knocked yet! Toodles.

Posted by: @toodles

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@papahuhu I read the planning requirements very carefully and took advice. The wording refers to ‘Ground Mounted’ whereas my panels are resting on but not affixed to the ground. As such, I don’t comply due to the very restrictive requirements of a limitation on the square meterage and distance from the boundary with my neighbours …. no planning inspectors have knocked yet! Toodles.

Are you not concerned about high winds catching hold of panels and relocating them to a neighbour's garden, @toodles?

@toodles 

you must have discovered the secrets of quantum gravity to get them to float above the ground then, or are a Jedi 😀 

It’s an absurd regulation anyway, how is a solar panel any different to a green house for reflectivity. 

@majordennisbloodnok The frames alone weigh over 100 kilos, then there is the weight of the ballast blocks and the panels themselves - maximum height above ground level is approx 20 cm. We are surrounded by high fences (hence the shading problem in winter time) and houses on all four sides. Toodles.

@papahuhu Indeed! One could put sheds all round one’s property and line each roof with solar panels - complies with LP requirements… Toodles.

@toodles I sail, so have a feel for what wind can do. At 80mph, there is approx 79kg/m2 lift. 10 panels is 20m2, I make that 1600kg lift, max.

I’ve scared myself now! I’ve got 20 panels on one of my roofs, that’s 3000 kg going the wrong way. 

@papahuhu My installers insisted on a structural survey of the roof to ensure that it was safe for the uplift. I think I paid about £150 for that extra surety. Toodles.

@toodles 

We had a reroof concurrently with the PV install, it was 60 years old and although not leaking was at the end of its useful life. Plus, if you can demonstrate the reroof is necessary as part of the PV it qualifies for the same VAT relief on materials and labour as the PV. I think we were pushing it to get both sides done when the panels were only on one side, but the roofers didn’t protest too much. It was 12 pallets of tiles alone, all in all it saved me about £4k in VAT.
It’s a long winded way of saying that I now know there’s 4500kg of tiles on each side of each roof, so at least the force of that is downwards and must counteract some the lift. I don’t know if a survey was done beyond the basic structural loads calc that MCS mandates. 
if I’m honest I’m more worried about the several 150ft trees we have uncomfortably close to the house, one of the smaller limbs came down in the heavy winds 3 months ago and when I came to saw it up it had a 2 foot diameter. If one of the trees comes down on the house in high winds then lifting solar panels will be the least of my worries. We can’t touch them as they have TPOs, the council even rejected my application to remove one limb that was contacting high sided vehicles.I needed to wait for evidence that the bark damaged limb was a risk to health of the tree. 

Posted by: @toodles

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I read the planning requirements very carefully and took advice. The wording refers to ‘Ground Mounted’ whereas my panels are resting on but not affixed to the ground.

I concur with that analysis.

If the PV panels are resting at ground level, and not embedded into it, then you don't require planning permission.
Local Government Councillors have asked their planning officers to clarify this (at my request).
The professional planners seem to regard it as 'a loophole', and won't put their response in writing!

There are ground-level frames and angled 'buckets' which allow PV panels to be placed on the ground, and comply with this planning rule.

The bucket system allows for ballast to be placed below the panels to prevent them being blown away to the Land of Oz.

Wind Lift:

The installation manual for Fastensol roof-fixings contains diagrams and calculations to satisfy the wind-lift requirements that apply in UK

The above link is from Midsummer Wholesale, who supply the Fastensol range and other (rival) roof-rail systems.
They will supply direct to (competent) end-users, rather than just trade installers.

If you want help... post here!

This is a Forum 😎 

@transparent A very informative Forum at that! Our system was installed during post-covid supply problems and the buckets we were to have (a rival company) were O/S, so the installer chose to use frames which are all bolted together and have the panels bolted to the gravity hugging system that also had blocks of ballast at each intersection of the frames.

I too have had a brushing with my local authority over this planning malarky. I contacted them at one point for clarification and they metaphorically put their hand out for payment of nearly £200 to enter into any dialogue whatsoever. I complained to my local councillor about this lack of sympathy and total indifference to assist homeowners with the merest guidelines without a substantial upfront payment. (I think they met the same blank response as I did) I did my own extensive research instead. Regards, Toodles.

December 2025 was our third best December in terms of production.