Do you need planning permission for solar panels in Northern Ireland?

Quick check: do you need to apply?

Northern Ireland has its own rules

Planning is devolved. The rules for solar panels here are in the Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015. Part 2 covers houses. Part 37 covers farms, shops and other non-domestic buildings.

Work that meets those rules is "permitted development". It already has planning permission, so there is nothing to apply for.

Many planning guides online describe England, which has its own order and its own limits. A garden array in England is capped at 9 square metres, for example; here the limit is 14. If a guide does not mention Northern Ireland, it is probably describing England.

We checked this guide against the Order on legislation.gov.uk on 16 October 2026. Amendments in 2023 and 2026 changed the rules for heat pumps and shops, not for solar panels.

Panels on a house roof

Class A of Part 2 allows solar PV or solar thermal panels on the roof of a house. It also covers a shed, garage or other building in the garden. The panels must stay within these limits:

• On a roof slope that faces onto and can be seen from a road, no part can stand more than 20 cm off the roof. The Order sets no stand-off limit for slopes that cannot be seen from a road.
• No part can be higher than the highest part of a pitched roof, or more than 1.5 m above a flat roof.
• No part can extend past the edge of the roof.
• In a conservation area or World Heritage Site, a roof slope that faces and can be seen from a road is excluded. So is a flat roof where the panels would be visible from a road.
• On a listed building, or anywhere in its grounds, you need listed building consent first.

Panels on a wall

Class B allows panels on the wall of a house or outbuilding, or on a garden wall. Within 3 m of your boundary, panels higher than 4 m can stand off the wall by no more than 20 cm. They cannot extend past the edge of the wall, and on a chimney wall they cannot go above the roof.

In a conservation area or World Heritage Site, a wall that faces and can be seen from a road is excluded. Listed buildings need consent first.

Panels in the garden

Class C allows one stand-alone array in the garden of a house without planning permission. It must:

• cover no more than 14 square metres, about seven standard panels;
• be no more than 2 m high;
• be no nearer to a road bounding the property than the nearest part of the house;
• not be in the grounds of a listed building, unless listed building consent has been granted.

Conservation areas, the Causeway and listed buildings

Conservation areas and the Giant's Causeway World Heritage Site keep permitted development for roof slopes and walls that cannot be seen from a road. A front roof facing the street needs a planning application.

A listed building needs listed building consent. Until consent is granted, panels anywhere in its grounds are outside permitted development.

Each council publishes its own conservation areas. Our area pages link to the planning service for every council we cover, and we check your property's status before we quote.

Flats and apartments

The Order's definition of a house leaves out flats and buildings that contain flats. Part 37, the non-domestic rules, leaves out blocks of flats too.

So permitted development does not cover solar panels on flats or apartment blocks. They need a planning application, and the agreement of whoever owns or manages the building.

Farms, shops and other businesses

Part 37 covers buildings that are not houses or flats: farm sheds, workshops, shops and offices. Class A allows panels on their roofs and walls without planning permission, as long as:

• on a slope that faces and can be seen from a road, nothing stands more than 20 cm off the roof;
• on a flat roof, nothing is more than 2 m above the highest part of the roof, or within 2 m of its outer edge;
• nothing extends past the roof or wall, or rises above the ridge of a pitched roof;
• in a conservation area or World Heritage Site, nothing goes on a wall or roof slope that faces and can be seen from a road;
• on a listed building or in its grounds, listed building consent has been granted first;
• the panels are sited, as far as practicable, to keep the effect on the building and the area to a minimum.

Ground-mounted arrays at a farm or business

Class B of Part 37 allows a stand-alone array in the grounds of a non-domestic building without planning permission. It must be:

• no more than 2 m high and no more than 30 square metres;
• at least 5 m from the boundary;
• outside any area of special scientific interest or site of archaeological interest;
• not facing and visible from a road, in a conservation area or World Heritage Site;
• outside the grounds of a listed building, unless listed building consent has been granted.

Is there a kW limit?

No. Neither Part 2 nor Part 37 limits a system's output. The limits are about where panels go and how far they stand off the building.

Size matters for the grid instead. Every system needs a G98 notification or G99 application to NIE Networks, which we prepare and submit for you.

What can take permitted development away

• A condition on the planning permission for your house. Some newer estates have one (article 3(4) of the Order).
• An article 4 direction, which a council can make to remove permitted development in a particular area.
• On a house, the panels must mainly supply that house, and panels no longer in use must be removed.

Getting it in writing

If you want certainty, for example before you sell, ask your council for a certificate of lawfulness of proposed use or development. It is issued under section 170 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011.

The council only confirms that the work would be lawful. It does not judge whether the work is a good idea.