At Marlow Energy we are keen to encourage the use of solar panels in our town and to measure how installations are increasing. By understanding the number of panels in use we can start to understand how much of Marlow’s electricity if generated locally.
For several years John Laker, one of our volunteers, has undertaken a survey from the streets of Marlow, to count the number of Solar Panels installed. The survey does not include Marlow Bottom, Little Marlow, Bisham or other surrounding villages. The survey is undertaken from the street and may exclude panels which are not visible from the street. The survey takes several weeks and allows a year-on-year comparison, which Google Map surveys do not.
We would like to keep this going, if we can find volunteers to carry it on. Please let us know via email on energy@transitionmarlow.org if you are interested in extending this survey to surrounding areas or in taking over from, or helping John in the future.
| Survey date | PV installations | Yearly increase | Number of PV panels | Yearly increase | Thermal panel installations | Yearly increase | Number of thermal panels | Yearly increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2020 | 76 | 895 | 42 | 71 | ||||
| Jun 2021 | 102 | 34% | 1115 | 25% | 48 | 14% | 80 | 13% |
| Jan 2022 | 107 | 5% | 1171 | 5% | 52 | 8% | 95 | 19% |
| Jun 2023 | 168 | 57% | 1965 | 68% | 58 | 12% | 108 | 14% |
| May 2024 | 198 | 18% | 2243 | 14% | 59 | 2% | 110 | 2% |
| Sep 2025 | 250 | 26% | 2733 | 22% | 60 | 2% | 122 | 11% |
| Increase since 2020 | – | 229% | – | 205% | – | 43% | – | 72% |
In addition to the above, 10 schools, commercial and public buildings have 2171 PV panels installed and one has 2 thermal panels installed as of September 2025.
The last census showed that the number of residences in Marlow was 4,737. Therefore, as of September 2025, approximately 5.3% of residences in Marlow had solar installations.
This is set against over 1.6m UK homes which had solar panels in October 2024 (UK Gov, Solar Taskforce) and a rate of installation of around 15,000 installations monthly. The total number of dwellings in the UK in 2024 was 29.9 million. Therefore, approximately 5.35% of UK homes had a solar installation. This puts Marlow slightly behind the UK national average.
If we compare to another European Country, like Germany. The solar market in Germany estimated that over 4.8 million solar systems had been installed in Germany at the end of 2024. Energyefficiency.ie compared Total Solar PV capacity (installed) per capita across all European countries in 2024, and found the UK was 20th with 252 watts/capita. Netherlands was in the lead with 1,036 watts/capita and Germany was second with
980 watts/capita.
Let’s all encourage Marlow to do better.