Gerard Last reviewed: 4 September 2026. Checked against the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and Financial Ombudsman Service guidance. This explains the general legal position in the UK; it is not advice about your particular purchase. If you pay for a solar kit, a battery or an installation with a credit card, and the thing goes wrong … Read more
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026, against version 2.0 of the DESNZ Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification, read in the original PDF. The wind-load figures in the table are our own indicative calculation, clearly labelled as such — they are not a structural design and do not replace one. A 430 W solar panel weighs … Read more
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026, against version 2.0 of the DESNZ Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification, read in the original PDF. Output and money figures use the same assumptions as our savings calculator and are our own estimates, not MCS figures. The legal answer is up to four modules, with no more than two … Read more
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026. Figures and legal points checked against primary sources (legislation.gov.uk, gov.uk, DESNZ, the Energy Networks Association and Ofgem). Where a number comes from our own calculation rather than a government document, we say so. These are not two sizes of the same product. A plug-in kit is an appliance: 800 VA … Read more
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026. Read against the published document: DESNZ, Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification, version 2.0, July 2026. Clause references below are ours, taken from that text. The law that legalised plug-in solar in Great Britain is short and says almost nothing about the product. It sets an 800 W AC ceiling, … Read more
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026. Requirements and figures below are from the DESNZ Interim Product Specification version 2.0 (July 2026) and SI 2026/848; standards are named as the specification names them. In a plug-in solar kit the panel is the part you look at and the microinverter is the part that does the regulated work. … Read more
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026. Sun angles and day lengths in the table are our own calculations from latitude and solar declination, rounded; product requirements are from the DESNZ Interim Product Specification version 2.0 (July 2026). Expect very little, and plan around it. Between November and February a plug-in solar kit in Britain produces a … Read more
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026. Requirements below are taken from the DESNZ Interim Product Specification version 2.0 (July 2026) and SI 2026/848. We are publishers, not electricians: this page is general information, not electrical advice. No. Running a plug-in solar kit through an extension lead is not permitted, and it is one of the very … Read more
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026. Every check below is traced to a clause of the DESNZ Interim Product Specification version 2.0 (July 2026), to SI 2026/848, or to ENA Engineering Recommendation G98. Nothing here comes from a retailer. Most non-compliant kits on sale in Britain are not counterfeits. They are perfectly good European balcony systems … Read more
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026. Product requirements are from the DESNZ Interim Product Specification version 2.0 (July 2026). Planning and building matters are signposted rather than advised on; we are publishers, not surveyors or electricians. If you have a garden, a ground-mounted frame is usually the best plug-in solar decision available to you — and … Read more