Plug-in solar product compliance checklist

The checklist

These are the things that would need to line up for a plug-in solar product to be genuinely compliant for UK use. They mirror the evidence we require before listing anything as compliant.

• A legal basis for plug-in use — see the current UK legal status.
• Product safety conformity — manufacturer declarations of conformity and the relevant safety standards.
• A compliant microinverter — meeting the applicable UK electrical and grid-protection requirements, including anti-islanding.
• Connection arrangements — consistent with UK rules such as G98 notification where it applies.
• Clear installation instructions — consistent with UK wiring regulations (BS 7671).
• Honest documentation — manuals and specs that match the product, with nothing overclaimed.

Why marks aren't the whole story

A CE or UKCA mark indicates a product meets certain applicable directives or regulations — useful, but not the same as being legal to plug into a UK socket as a generator. Those are different questions: one is about the product meeting specified rules; the other is about whether the use itself is permitted and how it must connect. A microinverter can be a perfectly good product and still not be cleared for plug-in use here.

Checks to make about your home, not the kit

The list above is about the product. There is a second list, about your home, and it is the one people skip. These checks come from Energy Saving Trust’s “Plug-in solar panels: Checks to make before you buy”, written with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and last updated on 1 October 2026. They are practical advice, not law, but each one can cost you money if you find out too late.

Before you pay

• Get permission first. Energy Saving Trust puts this bluntly: “Don’t buy plug-in solar panels before getting relevant permissions.” If you rent, lease or live in a managed building, that means your landlord, freeholder or building manager — a property manager in Scotland. It warns that without permission “you may be required to remove the panels and pay for any damage caused”. See landlord and freeholder permission.
• Check your lease for anything about fixing equipment to balconies, external walls, roofs, railings or communal areas, and for restrictions tied to fire safety or insurance.
• Tell your insurer. Contact your buildings and contents provider and check whether the policy covers outdoor installations — see home insurance and plug-in solar.
• One device per property. Only one plug-in solar device may be connected at a home.

Your electrics

• The socket has to be on the right circuit — one that does not also serve lighting or hardwired appliances such as a boiler or cooker. To find out which is which, switch off one circuit breaker at a time and see what loses power.
• Plug it straight into the wall. No extension leads, no international adaptors, no altered plugs, and no linking devices together (sometimes called “daisy-chaining”).
• An outdoor socket must be suitable for outdoors and fitted by a qualified electrician. Energy Saving Trust gives a figure to ask for: “a rating of at least IP65 means that it’s adequately protected against water and dust”.
• Speak to an electrician first if your consumer unit has older rewireable fuses, if you are unsure about your wiring, if a socket needs moving or installing, or if the panels total more than 960 W — the same threshold as the government’s interim product specification.
• Test the RCD every six months, in daylight while the kit is generating. See RCDs, DC leakage and plug-in solar.

Where you put it

• Not on a wooden fence without professional advice. Energy Saving Trust: “Don’t install plug-in solar panels on wooden fences unless you get advice from a professional to ensure that it’s safe.” In England there is a separate planning rule on wooden fences — see fence-mounted solar panels.
• Check the structure holds. On a garage or outbuilding, make sure the roof takes the weight; get roofing advice if you are unsure. Use fixings that will not let panels move or blow over.
• Cladding, timber balconies and buildings having external wall work need a conversation with the building manager before anything is bought. Flats and “higher-risk buildings” may have further rules because of fire safety.
• Keep cables tidy and secure so nothing trips anyone or pulls out.

None of this replaces the product checks above: a kit still has to be the exact model listed as compliant on the register. Energy Saving Trust makes the same point, pointing readers to the ENA’s device register to “make sure the specific model you’re looking at is on the list of devices that meet UK standards”. Our dated list is at kits on the ENA register.

Using the checklist

When you see a product marketed for UK plug-in use, work down the list and ask what evidence backs each point — especially the legal basis and the microinverter's grid protection. If a claim can't be substantiated from the manufacturer's documentation, treat it as unproven. This is exactly how our products tracker records each system, and how we'd assess any product (see how we assess).