Large-scale solar land — the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe
Give underperforming
land a second income.
LandBank identifies agricultural land with potential for large-scale solar and connects interested landowners with funded project companies. No upfront farm capital. No obligation to proceed. Just an evidence-led look at whether the opportunity stacks up.
No obligation. If it doesn’t work, we’ll tell you.
Why you may have heard from us
We do the homework
before we
contact you.
We don’t contact every farm in a postcode. Before approaching a landowner, we carry out an initial screen of the location and ask whether there is a real reason to have the conversation.
What we look at, in broad terms:
- Available scale and acreage
- Suitable amount of parcels
- Site-specific solar potential
- Terrain, slope and flood risk
- Agricultural Land Classification
- Planning constraints and grid evidence where available
These are initial origination screens. They are not a formal grid offer, planning permission, a survey, legal or title due diligence, or engineering design. All of that comes later, through the downstream project company.
If we have contacted you, it is because there is a reason to have the conversation. It does not mean the site is guaranteed to work.
Why now
Farming has always dealt with uncertainty. The variables are getting harder to ignore.
Weather. Input costs. Commodity prices. Water. Support payments. None of them sit entirely in the farmer’s control.
Solar does not replace farming. On suitable land, it can add a long-term income opportunity that is not dependent on the yield of the next crop on that parcel.
A dry year exposes the cost of ground that is not earning its keep. A wet year does the same. The land that struggles in a difficult season is usually the same land every time.
We are interested in the acres that have never quite justified the effort — and only where the evidence suggests they could suit large-scale solar.
- 2025
- England's driest spring since 1893
- £17,000
- Forecast average Farm Business Income for cereal farms in England, 2025/26
- 45–47GW
- Government ambition for installed solar capacity by 2030
Sources: Environment Agency, DEFRA, DESNZ.
Give the land another job
Some acres earn their keep.
Some never have.
A poor-yielding block, an awkward corner, a headland that costs more to work than it returns — most holdings have ground like it. Where the evidence supports it, solar can give that acreage a second productive use.
01
Multi-decade income opportunity
Large-scale solar is a long-horizon use of land, typically measured in decades rather than seasons, so a suitable parcel can contribute to the business for the long term.
02
No upfront farm capital
The construction cost does not come out of farm cash. A viable site is delivered and funded by the downstream project company, not by the landowner and not by us.
03
Less exposed to crop yield
On the acreage in question, the income opportunity does not rest on how that year's crop performs on that parcel.
04
Keep farming the rest
We are looking at a defined parcel, not a whole holding. The rest of the holding can remain focused on farming, subject to the eventual access, cabling and project design.
This is grid-export solar for income, not panels to power the farmyard. Final viability and commercial terms are settled downstream with the project company and your own advisers.
Plainly put
What “no upfront capital” means.
It is a fair question to ask early, so here is the straight answer rather than a headline.
- Do I pay for the solar project?
- No upfront construction capital from the farm under the funded project model.
- Who actually develops and builds it?
- The funded project company and its appointed delivery partners.
- How do I get paid?
- Your payment and income structure is agreed with the project company in the eventual commercial agreement, alongside your own advisers.
LandBank does not install, construct or finance solar projects. We identify and qualify land, and introduce viable opportunities to the parties who do.
What we are looking for
A filter, not a pitch.
- From around five acres of genuinely available land
- Land across the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe
- Suitable terrain and location — ideally level or gently sloping
- Floodplain land is a material constraint and usually rules a site out
- Grid is considered case by case; there is no simple distance cut-off
- Someone with genuine authority to make decisions about the land
On grid connection: a viable connection matters, but the position varies from one location to the next and depends on the scale of the scheme. We look at the grid evidence for each site rather than applying a blanket distance rule, and a formal grid application is a downstream step in any case.
If your land does not work, we will tell you quickly and plainly, and that will be the end of it.
Not every site works. Terrain, flood risk, land classification and planning constraints rule out a good number of them.
How it works
Four steps, in order.
LandBank handles the first three. The fourth is where a funded project company takes over, and we make that handover clearly rather than quietly.
01
Conversation
LandBank
A short, no-obligation call. We explain why the land may warrant a look, and you tell us whether a long-term solar use is something you would ever consider.
02
Evidence-led screen
LandBank
We go through the evidence with you: the parcel and its access, how it is used now, the available acreage, solar yield modelled for the site, flood, terrain, land classification, constraints and grid evidence.
03
Qualification and matching
LandBank
If there is genuine interest and the site still looks viable, we confirm the land situation and who can make decisions, then match the opportunity to a funded project company suited to that scale and location.
04
Downstream development handover
Project company
The project company takes it forward: formal grid application, surveys and design, planning due diligence, legal and title work, contracting and delivery, alongside your own advisers.
British weather
Solar does not
need blue skies.
Photovoltaic panels generate electricity from daylight. Strong, direct sunshine produces more output, but panels carry on generating on cloudy and overcast days. That is why solar projects are deployed across a wide range of climates in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe, not only in the sunniest locations.
Output does vary with cloud and season, so no two sites perform alike. When we look at a location we model the solar yield for that specific site rather than assuming every acre in the country behaves the same way.
The stronger the available light, the more a site produces. A grey day is a quieter day, not a stopped one.
Indicative solar scale
Roughly what scale of solar could fit?
Enter the acreage you think might be available for an indicative technical capacity range. These are national rules of thumb for layout density only. A real LandBank assessment uses site-specific evidence rather than averages, and is an origination illustration rather than any form of quote.
Whole or decimal acreages are fine. A rough figure is enough at this stage.
Indicative capacity range
—
- Conservative — 4 acres per MW
- —
- Base — 3 acres per MW
- —
- High density — 2 acres per MW
- —
Site shape, grid, terrain and planning determine what is genuinely viable. These figures are indicative technical estimates based on typical layout density only.
Capacity is only half the picture.
What that generation is actually worth depends on things this page cannot know: the solar yield your own land records rather than a national average, where the nearest viable grid connection sits, the shape and gradient of the fields, and the scale a site of your size can realistically support. Those variables move the number considerably, which is why we do not put one on a web page.
Tell us where the land is and we will model it properly — your site, its own figures — and come back to you with what it could mean in financial terms. There is no cost for the assessment and no obligation to proceed. If the land does not work, we will tell you that just as plainly.
Beyond the balance sheet
More than another income stream.
The commercial case comes first, and rightly so. But a well-sited project also does something useful beyond the farm gate.
Home-grown electricity
Solar generated here contributes to British energy security: electricity produced in this country rather than imported as fuel.
Part of a national build-out
Government ambition for installed solar capacity by 2030 is a substantial step up from today, and well-sited projects on suitable land can play a part in that build-out.
Room for ecology
Well-designed projects can create biodiversity and habitat opportunities alongside generation, subject to project-specific design and planning.
Agriculture can sometimes continue
Compatible agricultural use such as sheep grazing is often possible within a solar site, subject to the eventual project design and operating arrangements.
Planning policy is applied separately in England and Wales, and site-specific judgement sits downstream. In England, national policy encourages lower-quality agricultural land to be preferred where agricultural land is needed for solar. LandBank considers agricultural land quality at the origination stage rather than treating productive farmland as a blanket target.
Straight answers
Common questions.
- Do solar panels work when it is cloudy?
- Yes. Photovoltaic panels generate from daylight, so they carry on working on cloudy and overcast days. Output is lower than in strong, direct sunshine and varies with season, which is why we model the yield for each specific site.
- How much land do I need?
- Around five acres of genuinely available land is the practical starting point. Larger parcels open up more options, but viability depends on the site rather than acreage alone.
- Do I have to pay for the solar farm?
- No upfront farm capital is required under the funded project model. A viable site is delivered by a funded project company, and the detail of the commercial arrangement is settled in the eventual agreement.
- Will you use my whole farm?
- No. We look at the acreage that is potentially suitable and available. The focus is a defined parcel; any access, cabling or other requirements are dealt with through the final project design and agreement.
- Can sheep still graze around solar panels?
- Many solar projects are designed to allow sheep grazing, although that depends on the final project design and operating arrangements.
- What happens to the land at the end of the project?
- Decommissioning and restoration obligations are dealt with in the eventual project agreement. They are matters to review with the project company and your own professional advisers.
- Does this mean taking prime farmland out of production?
- Not as a blanket approach. LandBank considers Agricultural Land Classification during origination. In England, national policy encourages lower-quality agricultural land to be preferred where agricultural land is needed for solar; planning policy and site-specific judgement are applied downstream for each site, including Welsh sites.
- Does a good initial assessment guarantee a project?
- No. Our screening is an origination step. Formal grid application, planning, surveys and design, legal and title work and downstream due diligence all still follow, and a good number of sites are ruled out along the way.
- What happens after LandBank?
- If a site qualifies and you want to proceed, we hand the opportunity to a funded project company. They take on the development and delivery, working with you and your own advisers.
- Where do you work?
- LandBank originates land across the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe. Our delivery partners and funders operate across those same territories, including current partner-led project activity in Poland.
About LandBank
Specialist solar-land origination, built around evidence.
LandBank is a specialist solar-land origination business operating across the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe. We identify land with potential for large-scale grid-export solar, assess the opportunity against available site evidence, establish genuine landowner interest and qualify the opportunity before making a structured introduction to a funded project company.
Our approach is deliberately evidence-led. We assess factors such as available acreage, site-specific solar potential, flood risk, terrain, Agricultural Land Classification, planning and environmental constraints and available grid evidence. That means our conversations start with the land and the facts, not with a generic solar pitch.
LandBank works alongside an established network of development, funding and delivery partners with project activity across the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe. That network includes current partner-led project activity in Poland and gives suitable opportunities access to parties with the capability to take them through formal development and delivery.
LandBank’s role is origination and qualification. Formal grid applications, planning, surveys, engineering, funding, legal work, contracting, construction and long-term project delivery sit with the downstream project company and the relevant professional teams.
For the landowner, that means a focused first conversation, a properly screened opportunity and a clear route to the people who can take a viable project forward.
Enquire
Let’s see whether the land stacks up.
Give us the postcode and approximate acreage. That is enough for an initial look. If the site is worth taking further, we’ll tell you. If it isn’t, we’ll tell you that too.