Solar Panels by Area in Northern Ireland: What Changes Between the Coast, Belfast and the West

Does where you live in Northern Ireland actually change what solar is worth?

I run a generation tracker on this site. It publishes a daily estimate for seven Northern Ireland towns, built from local Open-Meteo weather data and a fixed model of a south-facing 4kW and 6kW array. It has been running since 24 January 2026. The most common question I get from the 368 quote requests that have come through the site since March is some version of “does it work where I am”.

The tracker’s answer is that the panel does not much care. Between 24 January and 5 September 2026, across 225 measured days, the spread between the best-performing town and the worst was 255 kWh on a 4kW system. That is roughly £86 a year of electricity at the tracker’s assumed tariff.

Three things do change with your address, and none of them are the weather. How far the installer has to drive. Whether your street is in a conservation area. Whether you are on the mains gas grid or on oil. This page covers all three, county by county and town by town.

What seven NI towns actually generated in 2026

These are measured figures from the tracker, 24 January to 5 September 2026, 225 days. The savings column values every generated unit at 33.5p per kWh. That is the tracker’s fixed assumption, and it sits mid-market against an NI range of 29.83p to 42.01p (Consumer Council, 6 September 2026). Treat the kWh column as the real comparison and rescale the money column to your own unit rate.

Town	County	4kW (kWh)	6kW (kWh)	4kW at 33.5p	6kW at 33.5p
Newry	Down	2,265	3,399	£759	£1,138
Belfast	Antrim	2,227	3,342	£746	£1,120
Lisburn	Antrim	2,171	3,258	£727	£1,091
Armagh	Armagh	2,127	3,189	£712	£1,069
Ballymena	Antrim	2,065	3,097	£692	£1,037
Enniskillen	Fermanagh	2,043	3,065	£685	£1,027
Derry	Londonderry	2,010	3,015	£673	£1,010

The seven towns happen to cover all six counties. Derry, the lowest, produced 89 per cent of what Newry, the highest, produced. Five of the seven sit inside a band 9 per cent wide.

The sunshine hours tell a more dramatic story than the electricity does. In July 2026 Newry averaged 9.5 hours of sunshine a day and Derry 6.4, a difference of a third. Their July generation was 490 kWh and 404 kWh, a difference of 18 per cent. Panels convert diffuse daylight as well as direct sun, so a grey Foyle valley morning is not a zero.

If you want the daily numbers for your nearest tracker town, they are all published at /solar-today/ along with the monthly CSV.

Solar by county: who installs, who plans, what heats the houses

County	Councils handling planning	MCS installers based here (my directory)	Heating fuel picture
Antrim	Belfast City, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Mid and East Antrim, Lisburn and Castlereagh, Causeway Coast and Glens	6 (Belfast x2, Antrim, Newtownabbey, Lisburn, Ballyclare)	Best gas coverage in NI. Greater Belfast on the Phoenix network, the Ten Towns corridor on firmus
Down	Ards and North Down, Newry Mourne and Down, Lisburn and Castlereagh, Armagh City Banbridge and Craigavon, Belfast City	5 (Newtownards x3, Holywood, Moira)	North Down and East Down on Phoenix, Newry and Banbridge on firmus, rural south Down largely oil
Armagh	Armagh City Banbridge and Craigavon, Newry Mourne and Down, Mid Ulster	0	Armagh city and the Craigavon corridor on firmus, countryside almost entirely oil
Londonderry	Derry City and Strabane, Causeway Coast and Glens, Mid Ulster	1 (Londonderry city)	Derry, Limavady and Coleraine on firmus, Magherafelt on the Gas to the West network, Sperrins on oil
Tyrone	Fermanagh and Omagh, Mid Ulster, Derry City and Strabane	1 (Cookstown)	Strabane, Omagh, Dungannon, Coalisland and Cookstown on the Gas to the West network, everything between them on oil
Fermanagh	Fermanagh and Omagh	0	Enniskillen and Derrylin on Gas to the West, the rest of the county on oil

That installer column is the single biggest practical difference between living in Bangor and living in Kesh. Eleven of my thirteen directory installers are based in Antrim or Down. Nobody in my directory is based in Armagh or Fermanagh. Firms do travel, and several list coverage well beyond their base, but travel gets priced in.

Quotes for the same system routinely differ by more than £1,000, and outside the Belfast belt that spread widens because the pool of firms who will quote you is smaller. Compare quotes from MCS-certified installers across NI, free, no obligation.

The full directory with ratings, certifications and the areas each firm covers is at /installers/.

Where the mains gas actually stops

Northern Ireland has three separate gas distribution networks, and outside them there is no mains gas at all. This matters for solar because an oil-heated house has a different sum to do. Checked on 6 September 2026.

Phoenix Natural Gas owns the Greater Belfast network, which takes in Belfast, Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus, Larne, Lisburn, Holywood, Bangor, Newtownards and Donaghadee. In December 2015 the Utility Regulator approved an extension into East Down covering thirteen towns: Annahilt, Ballygowan, Ballynahinch, Castlewellan, Crossgar, Downpatrick, Dromore, Drumaness, Dundrum, Hillsborough, Newcastle, Saintfield and Spa.

firmus energy owns the Ten Towns network: Antrim, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Coleraine, Craigavon (including Lurgan and Portadown), Limavady, Derry/Londonderry and Newry, plus more than twenty-five smaller towns and villages around them.

SGN Natural Gas owns the Gas to the West network, licensed in February 2015, covering Strabane, Omagh, Enniskillen, Derrylin, Dungannon, Coalisland, Cookstown and Magherafelt.

Everywhere else in Northern Ireland is oil. NISRA’s 2024/25 household statistics, published 11 November 2025, put oil central heating at 61 per cent of NI households and mains gas at 36 per cent. Heating oil has been running at about £1.05 a litre this year according to Consumer Council price monitoring.

Solar does not heat your house. What it changes for an oil home is the summer: a diverter sending surplus generation into the hot water cylinder can take the summer oil run off the calendar, and if you later fit a heat pump the generation is already there. The full comparison is in solar versus oil heating costs in NI.

Conservation areas: which council you deal with

Planning transferred from the old divisional offices to the eleven councils in April 2015. Roof solar is permitted development in most cases, but a conservation area or a listing changes that, usually for any panel visible from the public road. Every URL below was checked on 6 September 2026.

Council	Planning page	Conservation areas
Antrim and Newtownabbey	antrimandnewtownabbey.gov.uk/planning	Check the council’s map before quoting
Ards and North Down	ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk	Interactive TPO and conservation area map published
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon	armaghbanbridgecraigavon.gov.uk	Armagh city centre and cathedral precincts are designated
Belfast City	belfastcity.gov.uk/planning	Twelve published guides, including Malone, Queen’s, Cathedral, Stranmillis, Cyprus Avenue and the Linen quarter
Causeway Coast and Glens	causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk	Five: Cushendall, Cushendun, Ballycastle, Bushmills, Ballymoney
Derry City and Strabane	derrystrabane.com/planning	Check the council’s map before quoting
Fermanagh and Omagh	fermanaghomagh.com	Check the council’s map before quoting
Lisburn and Castlereagh	lisburncastlereagh.gov.uk	Hillsborough is the one to watch
Mid and East Antrim	midandeastantrim.gov.uk/planning	Carnlough has a published guide
Mid Ulster	midulstercouncil.org/planning	Check the council’s map before quoting
Newry, Mourne and Down	newrymournedown.org	Ten: Ardglass, Bessbrook, Castlewellan, Downpatrick, Killough, Killyleagh, Newry, Rostrevor, Saintfield, Strangford

Two of those lists are worth reading closely if you have seen a claim to the contrary elsewhere. Causeway Coast and Glens publishes five conservation areas and Limavady is not one of them. Newry, Mourne and Down publishes ten and Ballynahinch is not one of them. The detail on what does and does not need an application is in solar panel planning permission in NI.

Towns with their own guide

Nine NI towns have a full local page on this site, with local costs, housing stock and installer coverage:

• Belfast
• Derry
• Lisburn
• Newry
• Bangor
• Craigavon and Portadown
• Coleraine
• Enniskillen
• Omagh

Every other town: what changes locally

The generation numbers below all sit inside the seven-town band above. What differs is the practical stuff.

Solar panels in Antrim

Antrim town is BT41 and sits about twenty minutes up the M2 from Belfast, which puts it inside the travel radius of every Belfast-based firm. Two of my directory installers are based in the immediate area, at Antrim and Ballyclare, so competition here is genuinely good. Planning goes through Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council. There is a conservation area around the town centre, so if you are on Church Street, High Street or near the Castle Grounds, check the council map first. Antrim is on the firmus Ten Towns gas network.

Solar panels in Armagh

Armagh is BT60 and BT61, and it is the county with no MCS installer based in it. Firms come from mid-Ulster or from Belfast, about forty minutes on the M1, and that travel usually shows up in the price. Take at least one quote from a Cookstown or Dungannon firm alongside the Belfast ones. Planning goes through Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council. The historic city centre and the cathedral precincts are a conservation area, which affects a lot of the Georgian streetscape. Armagh city is on the firmus network, the surrounding countryside is oil.

Solar panels in Ballymoney

Ballymoney is BT53, and it is one of only five conservation areas in Causeway Coast and Glens, designated in 1994. That is a real constraint if your house is in the older core, and it makes rear-facing panels the sensible starting point. Installers come from Coleraine, Ballymena and Belfast, so coverage is better than the population would suggest. Planning goes through Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. Ballymoney is on the firmus Ten Towns network, though homes out towards the Bann and the Glens are mostly oil.

Solar panels in Ballynahinch

Ballynahinch is BT24 and sits in the sweet spot between Belfast, Lisburn and Newtownards, which are where most of my directory installers are based. Coverage and pricing here are close to Belfast levels. Planning goes through Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, and Ballynahinch is not one of that council’s ten designated conservation areas, so permitted development will cover most roofs. Ballynahinch is one of the thirteen East Down towns added to the Phoenix gas network in the 2015 licence extension, so mains gas may be available at your address.

Solar panels in Comber

Comber is BT23 and is roughly ten miles from Belfast and five from Newtownards, which is where three of my thirteen directory installers are based. Nowhere in Northern Ireland has better installer density. Planning goes through Ards and North Down Borough Council, which publishes an interactive conservation area and tree preservation map worth checking before you commit. Comber sits at the edge of the Phoenix Greater Belfast network rather than inside the East Down extension, so confirm mains gas availability at your specific street rather than assuming it.

Solar panels in Cookstown

Cookstown is BT80 and is the base for the strongest mid-Ulster installer in my directory. That matters: you can get a genuinely local quote here rather than a Belfast quote with travel loaded on top. Planning goes through Mid Ulster District Council. Some properties along the long main street fall inside a conservation area, so rear-facing panels are the practical route if yours does. Cookstown is one of the eight towns on the SGN Natural Gas Gas to the West network, licensed in 2015. Outside the town, oil.

Solar panels in Downpatrick

Downpatrick is BT30 and holds one of the ten designated conservation areas in Newry, Mourne and Down. It covers the cathedral hill and much of the historic centre, including English Street, Irish Street and Scotch Street. If you are inside it, expect to apply. Installers come from Belfast, about thirty minutes away, and some apply a travel charge, so compare. Planning goes through Newry, Mourne and Down District Council. Downpatrick is one of the thirteen East Down towns on the Phoenix network extension, so mains gas is available in parts of the town.

Solar panels in Dungannon

Dungannon is BT70 and BT71. It is served by mid-Ulster firms and by Belfast firms about fifty minutes down the M1, and the mid-Ulster route is usually the cheaper of the two. Planning goes through Mid Ulster District Council. There is a small conservation area around Castle Hill and the town centre streets, but most of the residential stock sits outside it. Dungannon is on the Gas to the West network. The surrounding countryside is detached houses and farmhouses on oil, which is where a solar diverter into the hot water cylinder earns its keep.

Solar panels in Holywood

Holywood is BT18 and has the best installer coverage in Northern Ireland after Belfast itself. One directory installer is based in the town and several more are within fifteen minutes. Planning goes through Ards and North Down Borough Council. Parts of Holywood sit in a conservation area, and there are a number of listed buildings on the older streets running down to the shore. Check the council’s interactive map before you take quotes. Holywood is on the Phoenix Greater Belfast gas network.

Solar panels in Larne

Larne is BT40 and is about twenty-five minutes from Belfast on the M2. Belfast firms generally cover it without a travel charge, and one of my directory installers is based at Ballyclare nearby. Planning goes through Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, which also covers Carnlough, one of the few towns in the borough with a published conservation area guide. Larne town centre and the harbour area have conservation designation. Larne is inside the Phoenix Natural Gas licensed area. On an exposed coastal site, ask about the mounting hardware.

Solar panels in Limavady

Limavady is BT49 and sits seventeen miles from Derry, where one of my directory installers is based, and within reach of the north coast firms. That gives it better competition than its size suggests. Planning goes through Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, and Limavady is not one of that council’s five designated conservation areas, so permitted development covers most roofs here. Limavady is on the firmus Ten Towns gas network. Out towards Dungiven and the Roe valley, oil is the norm and the heat pump question comes up more often.

Solar panels in Magherafelt

Magherafelt is BT45 and sits in mid-Ulster with a Cookstown-based installer twelve miles away and Derry firms within reach as well. Planning goes through Mid Ulster District Council, whose planning pages are the place to check conservation status for the town centre. Magherafelt is one of the eight towns on the Gas to the West network, so mains gas arrived here relatively recently and many homes have not converted. If yours is still on oil, look at a solar diverter before you look at a battery.

Solar panels in Newtownabbey

Newtownabbey is BT36 and BT37 and is effectively contiguous with north Belfast, which gives it the same installer competition as the city and no travel charges. One of my directory installers is based in the area. Planning goes through Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council. The residential stock here is overwhelmingly post-war and modern, with very little conservation or listed constraint, so the vast majority of roofs are straightforward permitted development. Newtownabbey is on the Phoenix Greater Belfast gas network, so oil is rare.

Solar panels in Newtownards

Newtownards is BT23 and is the single densest cluster of MCS installers outside Belfast: three of my thirteen directory firms are based in the town. If you live here, get four quotes rather than three. Planning goes through Ards and North Down Borough Council. The historic core around High Street, Court Street and the Priory has conservation designation, so panels on a road-facing slope will need an application there. Newtownards is on the Phoenix Greater Belfast network. The Ards peninsula beyond the town is exposed, so ask about wind loading.

Solar panels in Portadown

Portadown is BT62 and BT63. It has its own detailed page as part of the Craigavon and Portadown guide, which is where to go for costs and housing stock. In short: thirty minutes from Belfast on the M1, good coverage from Belfast and mid-Ulster firms both, planning through Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, and very little conservation constraint on the residential stock. Portadown is inside the Craigavon area of the firmus Ten Towns gas network.

Solar panels in Strabane

Strabane is BT82 and has the thinnest local installer coverage of any town on this list. The nearest directory installer is in Derry, fourteen miles away, and beyond that you are into Belfast travel distances. Comparing quotes matters more here than anywhere else. Planning goes through Derry City and Strabane District Council. Strabane is one of the eight Gas to the West towns, but west Tyrone as a whole remains overwhelmingly oil-heated, and fuel poverty rates here run above the NI average.

What I would do

If you are in the Belfast, Lisburn, north Down or Ards belt, you have enough installers within twenty minutes that price competition does most of the work for you. Get three quotes and read them properly.

If you are in Fermanagh, west Tyrone, Armagh or the Sperrins, the geography is working against you on price rather than on generation. Take one quote from a firm genuinely based near you, one from mid-Ulster or the north west, and one from Belfast, then compare the totals rather than the day rates.

Wherever you are, check your conservation status before you take quotes rather than after. And if your house is on oil, which two in three NI houses are, read the costs guide alongside the oil comparison rather than on its own. The sums are different.