Nationally, the amount of land solar takes up is small. Ground-mounted solar covers just over 0.1% of UK land, with plans to scale up to 0.5% as the sector expands toward 2030 targets. Industry data shows most large solar farms sit mainly on lower-grade land. Analysis of installations over 5MW found only around 38% include any “best and most versatile” (BMV) agricultural land at all, and where they do, it’s typically a minority of the site.
Agrivoltaics, where panels sit above or between crops or grazing land, lets the same land produce both energy and food. Sheep grazing beneath panels is already common on UK solar sites, and research suggests some crop and livestock systems can run alongside solar rather than being displaced by it.