Rooftop Solar Potential in West Thurrock
2,238 of the 4,037 buildings in this part of West Thurrock, Thurrock have room for solar panels on roof faces that get at least 70% of the best possible sunshine. Together they could carry about 42.6 MWp and make about 37.9 GWh of electricity in an average year, about as much as 15,200 typical UK homes use.
West Thurrock, Thurrock, Essex: warehouses, retail parks and homes. An area of 3.0 km², worked out on 13 November 2026. Indicative figures, an upper bound before roof strength, wiring and the grid connection are checked. The tool is in preview: built and tested, not yet signed off as validated.
The Headline Figures
Buildings with room for panels
2,238
of 4,037 buildings
Peak power they could carry
42.6 MWp
about 99,000 panels of 430 W
Electricity in an average year
37.9 GWh
2005 to 2023 weather
About as much as
15,200
typical UK homes use in a year (2,500 kWh each, Ofgem)
- 97 roofs could each carry 50 kWp or more. Between them they hold about 29.7 MWp, 70% of the area's peak power.
- 1,623 homes have room for panels. The middle home could carry about 3.9 kWp, 9 panels.
- Shade from trees and neighbouring buildings takes 1.8% of the sunshine from the middle building. The best roof plane here is pitched at 40° and faces south: it gets about 1,297 kWh of sunshine per m² a year.
By Type of Building
Buildings with room for panels, by the use recorded for them in the map data.
| Type | Buildings | Peak power | Electricity a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shops and offices | 19 | 12.5 MWp | 11.0 GWh |
| Not recorded | 469 | 11.8 MWp | 10.6 GWh |
| Homes | 1,623 | 8.97 MWp | 7.94 GWh |
| Industry and warehouses | 37 | 8.07 MWp | 7.22 GWh |
| Schools, health and public | 9 | 955 kWp | 862 MWh |
| Outbuildings | 81 | 300 kWp | 263 MWh |
“Not recorded” means the map data gives the building no use. Many of the largest roofs are in that group.
The Largest Roofs
The ten roofs that could carry the most panels. Buildings are shown by a number, never by address: each link opens that roof on the map with its faces, its panels and its months.
| Building | Type | Outline | Peak power | Electricity a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building 3946 | Shop or office | 86,400 m² | 4.64 MWp | 4.00 GWh |
| Building 1390 | Shop or office | 19,100 m² | 1.89 MWp | 1.73 GWh |
| Building 1414 | Shop or office | 10,900 m² | 1.80 MWp | 1.57 GWh |
| Building 3819 | Shop or office | 10,500 m² | 1.22 MWp | 1.06 GWh |
| Building 3816 | Shop or office | 7,240 m² | 1.09 MWp | 967 MWh |
| Building 1470 | Industrial building or warehouse | 7,460 m² | 1.06 MWp | 937 MWh |
| Building 1385 | Industrial building or warehouse | 4,470 m² | 812 kWp | 703 MWh |
| Building 1465 | Industrial building or warehouse | 9,200 m² | 718 kWp | 685 MWh |
| Building 76 | Shop or office | 8,660 m² | 663 kWp | 631 MWh |
| Building 3938 | Shop or office | 5,510 m² | 633 kWp | 557 MWh |
On large roofs, rooflights and access routes that 1 m LiDAR cannot see will take some of this space.
Electricity by Month
All the roofs together, in an average month of the weather record. June makes the most, December the least.
| Month | Electricity | Share of the year |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1.02 GWh | 2.7% |
| February | 1.56 GWh | 4.1% |
| March | 2.95 GWh | 7.8% |
| April | 4.38 GWh | 11.6% |
| May | 5.08 GWh | 13.4% |
| June | 5.31 GWh | 14.0% |
| July | 5.30 GWh | 14.0% |
| August | 4.53 GWh | 12.0% |
| September | 3.46 GWh | 9.1% |
| October | 2.19 GWh | 5.8% |
| November | 1.26 GWh | 3.3% |
| December | 863 MWh | 2.3% |
Why Some Buildings Have No Panels
1,799 buildings have no panels counted. The map says why for each one.
| Why | Buildings |
|---|---|
| No clear roof faceThe LiDAR shows no roof face here that is even enough and large enough to lay panels on. | 805 |
| Not enough room for panelsFewer than 4 panels fit on the roof faces that get enough sunshine, so no panels are counted here. | 410 |
| Too little sunshineNo usable roof face gets at least 70% of the best possible yearly sunshine, because of the way it faces or the shade on it. | 391 |
| Not in the LiDAR surveyThis building does not show in the LiDAR survey, which may be older than the building, so its roof could not be read. | 187 |
| Left out of the countThis outline is mapped as a car park, a glasshouse or something else that is not a roof for panels, so it is left out of the count. | 4 |
| Too small to readThis building is too small for its roof to be read from 1 m LiDAR. | 2 |
How It Was Worked Out
- Each roof is split into faces from the Environment Agency LIDAR Composite 1 m (surveys up to 2022). The same LiDAR gives the shade from trees and buildings within 300 m.
- Building outlines and uses are from Overture Maps release 2026-10-21.0.
- Sunshine is every hour of PVGIS 5.3, PVGIS-SARAH3, 2005 to 2023 (European Commission), so each month is a long-term average of real weather.
- A face counts when it gets at least 70% of the best possible yearly sunshine. 430 W panels are laid out face by face, and a building counts when at least 4 fit.
- Compared with PVGIS's own model on unshaded roof planes facing east through south to west, the yearly sunshine agrees within 2%. That compares two models, not metered output.
The Data Behind It
LiDAR Composite, 1 m (first return and last return surface models, and the terrain model)
Environment Agency · Open Government Licence v3.0
Building outlines and uses, including OpenStreetMap and Microsoft ML Building Footprints
Overture Maps Foundation · Open Database Licence 1.0
PVGIS solar radiation and PV performance, 2005 to 2023
European Commission, Joint Research Centre · © European Union. Free to reuse with credit (European Commission reuse notice, CC BY 4.0)
| Data | Published by | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| LiDAR Composite, 1 m (first return and last return surface models, and the terrain model) | Environment Agency | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Building outlines and uses, including OpenStreetMap and Microsoft ML Building Footprints | Overture Maps Foundation | Open Database Licence 1.0 |
| PVGIS solar radiation and PV performance, 2005 to 2023 | European Commission, Joint Research Centre | © European Union. Free to reuse with credit (European Commission reuse notice, CC BY 4.0) |
Every dataset and its credit line is on data sources and licences.
The roof layer is built on OpenStreetMap and Overture building outlines, so it is shared under the same Open Database Licence. Ask us for a copy.
Questions
Something else? Ask us.
How much solar power could the roofs of West Thurrock carry?
About 42.6 MWp of peak power, on 2,238 of the 4,037 buildings in the mapped part of West Thurrock, Thurrock. That is an upper bound from 1 m LiDAR and a panel layout on every roof face that gets enough sunshine, before roof strength, wiring and the grid connection are checked.
How much electricity would that make?
About 37.9 GWh in an average year of real weather (2005 to 2023), about as much as 15,200 typical UK homes use in a year at 2,500 kWh each (Ofgem). June makes about 5.31 GWh and December about 863 MWh.
Where is most of the potential?
On a small number of large roofs. 97 roofs that could each carry 50 kWp or more hold about 29.7 MWp, 70% of the area's peak power. The 1,623 homes with room for panels hold about 8.97 MWp.
Can I see a single building?
Yes. Open the map of West Thurrock and pick any building to see each roof face, the panels that could fit, the shade it gets and the electricity it could make each month. Buildings are shown by a number, not by address.
Can you make this for another area?
Yes, for places in England. Send us the area or the buildings and we make the same map, the ranked list of roofs and the figures for it.
Want This for Your Area or Your Buildings?
Tell us the area, the estate or the list of buildings. We make the same roof-by-roof map and a ranked list of the roofs, and a person checks it before it reaches you.