Commercial solar installers in Stockport

Key facts

Where businesses are in Stockport

• Stockport Exchange: A £145 million commercial scheme next to Stockport station, co owned by Stockport Council and Muse, whose three buildings provide 160,000 sq ft of offices let to firms including Vitality, Hurst, Stagecoach, BASF and ONP Solicitors.
• Stockport Trading Estate: An estate of 11 units totalling about 170,000 sq ft on 11 acres off Yew Street, near the Stockport Pyramid and junction 1 of the M60. Occupiers include Tyco Fire Products Manufacturing and Booker, and M&G bought it for £23.8 million in 2024.

Large employers and sectors with sites here include:

• Health and life insurance (Vitality): In December 2025 Vitality signed a 10 year lease on 45,000 sq ft at No3 Stockport Exchange, the scheme's largest letting, to move about 1,000 staff from its Wellington Road head office.
• Bus operator offices (Stagecoach): Stagecoach took 33,000 sq ft at Stockport Exchange in 2017, which stood as the scheme's largest letting until Vitality's in 2025.

Large, simple roofs on distribution sheds and modern industrial units are usually the quickest and cheapest to fit. Older mill, factory and workshop buildings can work well too, but often need a structural survey first, and roofs from before 2000 may contain asbestos cement: see asbestos roofs.

Grid connection

Stockport is served by Electricity North West (North West licence area). Almost every commercial system needs G99 approval from the network operator before it is switched on, and the question is usually how much the local network can take back. Where export is limited, a G100 export limitation scheme can let a larger array connect. See G99 and DNO applications.

Planning in Stockport

Stockport follows the national planning rules for England, decided by Stockport council. Rooftop solar on most non-domestic buildings is permitted development, within height and edge limits, and systems above 50 kW need a prior approval application covering design and glare.

Points that come up locally:

• The Market and Underbanks Conservation Area, designated in 1974, covers about 8.1 hectares and holds 41 listed buildings, including the Grade I Parish Church of St Mary and the Grade II* Staircase House, so roofs in the old town centre need more care.

Our guides on listed buildings and conservation areas explain what these mean for a solar project.

What a business roof in Stockport could generate

Modelled with PVGIS for the town centre, a south-facing roof at 30 degrees produces about 879 kWh per kWp a year.

Illustrative, not a quote: the same sums as our commercial solar calculator. A company paying corporation tax can usually shorten the payback with capital allowances.

Funding and support

We found no council or regional grant for business solar open in Stockport at the time of writing (November 2026). National reliefs still apply, such as capital allowances and, in England, the business rates exemption for onsite renewables: see grants and reliefs in England.

Solar across Stockport

At the end of 2025, Stockport had 6,771 solar PV installations with 27.8 MW of capacity, up 76% since 2020, according to government figures. The Stockport page has the full local figures and how they compare.

Nearby towns

• Oldham, about 9 miles away
• Macclesfield, about 11 miles away
• Bury, about 14 miles away
• Rochdale, about 14 miles away

Sources

• ons.gov.uk: census2021
• ons.gov.uk: datadownload.xlsx
• placenorthwest.co.uk: vitality signs largest stockport exchange deal to date
• placenorthwest.co.uk: mg snaps up stockport industrial for 23 8m
• gov.uk: investment zones in england
• gov.uk: enterprise zones
• heritagecheck.co.uk: market and underbanks
• Yield: PVGIS 5.3 (European Commission Joint Research Centre), SARAH3 data, 14% system losses, for the town centre, modelled 4 November 2026.
• Council area figures: DESNZ, renewable electricity by local authority 2014 to 2025.