On Sunday, the government announced the go-ahead for shops and supermarkets to sell ‘plug in solar’ kits. These are solar panels which don’t require a professional installation, and can be simply plugged in to a regular plug socket to power your home.
Until now, plug-in solar panels haven’t been legal in the UK. If you wanted solar panels, you either had to have them professionally installed, or only use them with a battery that you kept separate from the energy grid. We had solar panels professionally installed on our roof in 2023. Meanwhile, a former colleague of mine had a series of fold-out portable solar panels that she uses with a portable battery for use in her campervan.
The UK is catching up with our European neighbours in this regard. In Germany, over half a million households already have these systems, which are known as Balkonkraftwerk and can be picked up for around £500. These plug-in solar panels can simply clip over your balcony railings. Seeing as the German supermarkets Aldi and Lidl are now widespread in the UK, I wouldn’t be surprised if these plug-in solar kits will start appearing in their middle aisles soon.
Because they don’t require a professional installation, they’re much more suited to people who rent their homes, and people who live in flats without access to a roof.
Why hasn’t plug-in solar been legal before?
So why is the UK only now catching up with Germany? Here’s an explanation from Terence Eden, who I credit with first making me aware of this:
The electricity grid needs to be capable of handling both import and export from households, and in the past it wasn’t very good at this. Nowadays, it mostly is, and so a big increase in people exporting excess electricity from their homes shouldn’t cause too many problems. Which is a relief, considering how many houses already have solar panels – it’s rare to see a housing estate with at least a couple of houses with solar panels on their roofs already.
You may not get export payments
Depending on your energy supplier, using a plug-in solar kit may not allow you to get payments from your energy company for the electricity that you export. Most suppliers will insist on a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certificate, which only comes from professional installations. However, Octopus Energy no longer requires this for its Outgoing Octopus export tariffs, so if you’re with them, you just need to contact them to get set up for export payments.
It’s worth noting that you’ll be paid significantly less per kWh for exporting electricity; as it stands, Octopus pay 12p per kWh, versus typically 24p kWh for import. It was 15p per kWh until earlier this year. Most other suppliers pay even less, so if you’re not already with Octopus, maybe consider switching. Here’s my referral link – you’ll get £50 off your next bill once your first direct debit payment has been taken, and so will I.
In any case, if you’re considering a plug in solar kit, maybe also consider buying a battery that you can charge whilst it’s sunny. Anker’s SOLIX range is popular, and here’s a 2 kWh model that costs £999 (sponsored link). That way, you can use the excess electricity yourself.
This will help the UK reduce its fossil fuels reliance
As energy secretary Ed Milliband says in the announcement linked above:
Global events demonstrate there’s not a moment to waste in our drive for clean power because there can be no energy security while we are so dependent on fossil fuels.
Oil and gas prices have shot up in recent weeks, thanks to the latest war in the Middle East. Allowing more households to start using solar power will reduce our reliance on burning gas to generate electricity, as well as being better for the environment and air quality. We spent a five figure sum getting our solar panels installed three years ago; now, many households will be able to get a small system for just a few hundred pounds. And I think that’s great news.
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