Solar panels

How we size a solar system

We start from your bills, not your roof. A year of usage, or your smart meter data, tells us how much electricity you use and at what times of day. Then we measure the roof: which way it faces, its pitch, shading from chimneys, trees and neighbouring buildings, and how many panels physically fit with the edge clearances the mounting system needs.

Most homes we survey suit a system in the 4.0 to 6.4 kWp range, but bigger is not automatically better. If the house is empty during the day and you have no battery or electric car, much of the extra output is exported at a lower rate than you pay to buy electricity back. Your yield report shows expected generation month by month, how much you are likely to use yourself and how much you will export, so you can see exactly where the saving comes from.

Do solar panels work in the UK?

Yes. Panels generate from daylight, not heat, and they actually run more efficiently in cool weather. Output falls under heavy cloud and in the short days of December and January, which is why UK yield figures are modelled on local weather records rather than on hours of sunshine.

South-facing roofs produce the most, but east-west roofs work well too. They spread generation across the morning and evening, when most households use more power. North-facing roofs rarely make financial sense, and if that is all you have, we will say so at survey rather than sell you a system that won't pay back.

Planning permission and the grid

In England, roof-mounted solar on most houses and blocks of flats counts as permitted development, so you don't need planning permission, as long as the panels stay within set limits on how far they stand off the roof. Listed buildings need consent, and conservation areas and flat roofs have extra rules. Scotland and Wales have their own rules. We check all of this before we design anything.

Every system also has to be registered with your local electricity network operator (the DNO). Smaller systems are notified after installation. Larger ones, or a system paired with a battery that raises the total inverter capacity, need the network operator's approval before we fit them. We handle both applications and plan your install date around them.

What happens on installation day

Scaffolding usually goes up the day before. The panels go on the roof first; the inverter, generation meter and isolators are fitted inside, usually in the loft or next to your consumer unit. Most homes are finished in one to two days, and your power is off only briefly while we connect to the consumer unit.

Before we leave, we commission and test the system, set up app monitoring on your phone and show you what the readings mean. You get one handover pack with your certificates, warranties, the network operator notification and your monitoring login.

Getting paid for the power you export

Electricity you generate but don't use goes back to the grid. Under the Smart Export Guarantee, larger energy suppliers must offer you a payment for it, and you can choose any participating supplier, not only the one that supplies your home. Export rates vary a lot between suppliers and tariffs, so it is worth comparing before you sign up. We give you the documents suppliers ask for at handover.

Planning for a battery or EV charger later

If you think you might add a battery, an EV charger or a heat pump in the next few years, tell us at survey. A hybrid inverter fitted now can make a battery cheaper and simpler to add later, and we can route cables and position isolators so the second job causes less disruption. It is one of the reasons we prefer one survey covering the whole house to a quote for panels alone.