Orientation matters, but less than people think
South is best. East-west splits produce a flatter curve across the day, which can suit a household that uses power in the morning and evening. North-facing main roofs are usually a no from us.
Up to £15,000 · 0% and low-interest lenders
Solar PV, funded by the Warm Homes Loan Scheme
Solar PV is one of the scheme's headline measures, with its own £15,000 cap. And it is not limited to starting from scratch — the rules explicitly include adding panels to a system you already have.
What the loan covers for a solar job
Inside the £15,000
- New roof-mounted solar panels
- Additions to an existing array — more panels on a system you already own
- Inverter and associated electrical work
- Scaffolding and temporary safety equipment for the installation
- The grid connection
- An OZEV-approved EV chargepoint and its electrical work, as an ancillary cost
- A battery — though that draws on its own separate £15,000 cap
Outside the scheme
- Replacement roofing or other structural work needed before panels can go on
- Insulation of any kind
- Windows and doors
- Roofing repairs in advance of the installation
If your roof needs work first, a lender can offer you separate, ordinary finance for it — at normal rates, without the Warm Homes discount. We will tell you at survey if this applies to you, before you apply for anything.
Two caps, one project
Solar PV and battery storage are separate measures with separate £15,000 caps. A combined solar-and-battery installation can draw on both. All ancillary work still has to fit inside the relevant cap.
MCS certification is not optional
For solar PV to be fundable under the scheme, an MCS-certified product must be installed by an MCS-certified installer who is certified for that specific measure, to the relevant MCS design and installation standard. You cannot do the work yourself, and a non-MCS tradesperson's quote will be rejected by the lender — "quote provided by non-MCS registered tradesperson" is one of the scheme's listed rejection reasons.
After we install, we lodge the completed work in the MCS Installation Database. That generates the MCS certificate your lender uses to verify the job and claim its government grant. Without it, the lender cannot claim, so this step is not administrative box-ticking — it is the hinge the whole thing turns on.
What we do, in order
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Desk check and conversation
Roof orientation, pitch, shading, your current electricity use and when you use it. If solar is a poor fit for your property, this is where we say so.
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Survey and design
Panel layout, inverter sizing, cable routes, consumer unit and earthing checks, scaffold requirements, and whether a battery earns its keep for your usage pattern.
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Lender-ready quote
Itemised, on headed paper, addressed to you, with our MCS number, the full installation address and the system size in kW. Valid for your application for six months.
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Install, commission, lodge with MCS
Typically one to two days on site for a domestic array, plus commissioning, handover and the MCS lodgement that your lender needs.
Find out what your roof can actually do
A free survey gives you real numbers for your property — not a national average.
Honest notes on solar
Shading is the real enemy
A single chimney, dormer or tree can disproportionately hurt a string. Optimisers or microinverters can mitigate it; sometimes the right answer is simply fewer panels in a better place.
Self-consumption beats export
Electricity you use yourself is worth far more than electricity you export. That is the whole argument for a battery, and it is why we ask about your daily routine before quoting.
See illustrative costs and savings Should you add a battery?
Free, no-obligation
Get a free solar quote
Tell us about your roof and your electricity use. We will design a system and quote it in the format a Warm Homes Loan lender requires.
- MCS-certified installation — a requirement of the Warm Homes Loan Scheme
- Itemised quote with system size in kW, in the format lenders ask for
- Solar, solar + battery, battery-only retrofit or an EV charger added to either
- No hard credit check from us, and no cost for a quote
Prefer to talk it through? Email hello@warmhomeloans.org.