r/uksolar

I am planning out some small storage at home, two panels and a 5kWh battery.

The one that I would like to buy (Anker solarbank 4 pro) seems to be on sale until the end of the month, so I’ve got my fingers crossed and started ringing around electricians to see about having them fit this as well… First time dealing with stuff consumer unit related – quotes seem to vary wildly from £250 up to £600…

For anyone that’s had a battery hardwired into their house before, how much did you pay and more importantly what questions should I be asking these guys before I book someone?

UK plug-in solar becomes legal on 27 August 2026 — but there's a catch almost nobody's flagging

The regulations (SI 2026/848) were made 16 July and come into force 27 August 2026. They create a new route letting you plug a solar generator straight into a normal socket, without an electrician, provided it's:

solar-only, max 800W AC output

connects via a standard plug and manufacturer-supplied lead

runs in parallel with the grid

Here's the bit that's easy to miss: devices with a battery are excluded. Anything designed to store power for later still needs a proper wired installation, same as before. That matters because most of the "plug-in solar kits" already on UK shelves (EcoFlow STREAM and similar) have a battery built in — so they're not actually the kits the new law covers.

A few other things worth knowing before buying anything:

It's one device per household right now, not per circuit

No planning permission needed in England (except listed buildings/conservation areas)

No certified compliant products exist yet as far as I can tell — worth checking the ENA G98 register before buying anything marketed as "now legal"

I put together a longer checklist + countdown if it's useful: pluginsolarcheck.co.uk/plug-in-solar-uk-rules

I made the mistake of looking at solar options on my phone and now being constantly presented adverts about various 2026 schemes and if I’m a mortgage payer I should look at XYZ!

I got stung with the “rent-a-roof” schemes when I sold my last property so want to avoid any similar mistakes this time round.

My question would be; are any of the “schemes” legit, or would it be best to find a reputable installer and pay for it out right

Looking for advice on what setup to go with.

I'm an average energy user now, but planning on installing an ASHP soon so my electricity usage will rise significantly.

For around the same price I can get either a Sigenergy sigenstor 10, 10kw inverter, and DC EV charger to enable bidirectional charging, or a Fox ESS 20kwh and 10kw inverter.

In both cases the max solar I can fit on my roof is 18 panels. During the worst months my daily consumption will be ~30kwh

My questions are which setup optimises payback with minimal fuss:

1. Are Sigenergy automations significantly better than Fox? Bearing in mind that whilst I don't mind a bit of DIY'ing (particularly if solutions like capture AI or predbat do it for me!), but I wouldn't want to invest days of my time trying to optimise payback, hence the interest in the more expensive sigenergy system.

2. Does the DC EV charger make the Sigenergy system more financially viable due to it enabling use of my EV as a second battery? So in winter months I'll have a full battery from off peak rates + some solar generation + some vehicle to home. Then at night both the home and car battery can be charged at off peak rates

Link to DC EV charger: https://www.sigenergy.com/en/products/dc-charger

Thanks in advance!

Hi all!

I've had a quote for a solar installation with 19 455w panels, for an 8.645 kW total, a 10k Hanchu-ESS inverter and a 9.4kWh Hanchu battery. I'm happy with the prices I've been quoted, and the installer is a very well-rated local firm.

My energy use at home is currently very low - 2300kWh per year, although possibly more like 2500 as I've recently had a baby and have been running a tumble dryer and aircon a bit more than usual. I'm going to get an EV in the next month or so, which will likely bring my usage up to about 5000kWh per year.

Having looked at the installer's proposal, the 19 panel system will more than cover my usage from April to September and mostly cover my usage in Feb and October, leaving just the 4 darkest months with any significant shortfall in generation. They estimate it could do about 73% of my power needs for the year, which I'm very happy with.

However, I have the space to add about 9 more panels onto the North facing side of my roof (strictly speaking, it's about 25 degrees West of North). I've been quoted £2700 for those additional panels, with an estimated generation of around 1000-1300kWh per year. The installer said it probably wasn't worth it in terms of ROI.

However, a longer-term goal might be to install a heat pump (my house has horrendous insulation, so I need to think this one over very carefully, and probably do some work on the house first). Would that change the calculation at all? The heat pump would mainly run in winter, when the extra power generated would be at its lowest (my guess is as little as 1kWh per day in January, so barely worth it).

My gut says it's not worth it but this sub is full of people saying to max out roof space. What do you guys think?

Household uses approx 10300 kWh a year
EV charger
Work from home with a bit of bit of high energy usage equipment

Waiting for others to get back to me but first quote was £16400 for 22 aiko 465 kw pannels with growatt inverter and x2 5kw batteries.

These batteries are smart so can’t sell off at high and buy back when low which is surely more ideal especially with an EV.

Not sure if it makes any difference but currently with octopus on intelligent go and make low import is 3.49p

Any help with what sort of set up I should be looking at would be great !

Hi, I have just purchased a house with leased solar panels ( **A Shade Greener** ) and thought I would write up a short post. There is a decent amount of discourse around houses with leased solar panels (via the rent a roof scheme).

A lot of the discussions I have seen seem to be outrageously dramatic so I thought I would quell some of the myths.

Firstly, mortgaging. I went with HSBC, who had zero issues with the panels or lease. I made sure to discuss them with my solicitor and mortgage advisor early on, however neither raised any concerns with regard to mortgaging.

The sale itself wasn’t complicated by the lease. My solicitor raised routine enquiries with ASG who confirmed there were no formal requirements for the sale other than submitting a new owner form after completion.

The seller provided the written lease through their solicitor. I believe there was a cost of around £200 for ASG to provide the lease to them, which they of course paid. The seller also provided the MCS Cert and NAPIT Cert. ASG insure the panels and seem to provide routine maintenance where required (no experience of this yet).

Recently I did see that ASG have updated their terms and ways of operation in relation to an OFGEM investigation - with results [here](https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-06/A-Shade-Greener-case-closure–information-sheet.pdf).

Reading through this it seems largely all positive changes. I believe that I would be liable for scaffolding costs in circumstances where I need to undertake roof works.

My solicitor reviewed the lease and noted no concerns, the contract was started late 2015. I am unsure if different contracts exist for different years of installation.

The panels provide me with a reduced electricity bill, through reducing grid demand during the day time.I have no intention on adding a battery or more panels elsewhere on the roof, as there are far greater priorities where I want to focus my time/money on the house. I believe there are ways to add battery, but it must not interfere with the panels - I have no further info on that point.

I’ve had a number of quotes, but all seem very expensive compared to others I see posted and discussed here.

I’m torn between 2
a) 25 480W Longi panels all with optimisers,12kW Sigen inverter with 30 (27) kWh of batteries and a gateway. £20k
b) 27 490W Longi panels with 15 optimisers, same inverter and batteries. £23.5k but company been around much longer and has more EPVS, RECC etc credentials.

SE England

Do these seem expensive to everyone else?

Is £3.5k extra worth it for 2 more of the newer panels and all the accreditation?

Thanks for your opinions.

Anyone used Amore Renewables? Had a good quote but they are a new company and I don't want to have problems down the line.

Hi, I'm looking into get solar panels. Has anyone had experience of installers in Swansea? I'm planning own getting 3 quotes and would like to try and avoid "national" companies if at all possible.

My long term plan is to switch to air to air, so that would have to be taken into consideration in the design.

Any recs appreciated, thank you 🙏

As a tenant organisation in Wales, we monitor a lot of tenant forums. We've picked up a number of times where a housing association has installed solar panels via an accredited supplier but they haven't been switched on for 6 months+ . The HA blaming the DNO , the DNO saying they should have waited etc. For us, it's the tenant who is fuel poverty who is the one suffering due to this. Its one thing not to have PV, it's another to have it installed and not switched on! Does this happen often? as we are picking up a lot of chatter in south Wales forums on this.

Hi All,

I have got a quote from Fresh Solar through Costco offer.
20x Sunpower Maxeon (495w) or Eurener 500w (10kwp)
Fox ESS KH10 10kw inverter 15 year warranty
Fox EP12 11.52kwh battery 10 year warranty
Gateway for backup

Price: £12750

The price seems to be good. They are also giving me Tesla powerwall3 with the above setup for £14850

I am not sure about Fresh Solar. They are giving 5 year workmanship warranty. I have consulted a few other installers who give 10 year workmanship warranty. Not sure if this should be a deal breaker. Their Fox quote looks competitive. But Fox now looks like a low end system compared to Ecoflow or tesla or Sigenergy.

Any advice on the installer or system is appreciated.