Solar Panels in Scottish Weather

Solar panels make electricity from daylight, including the diffuse light that reaches a roof under cloud. Clear sun raises output. Cloud, including haar on the east coast, lowers it against that clear-sky figure. The cells still receive daylight when the sky is grey. Pentland Renewables sizes the array to the roof after a survey of space, orientation, and shading. This note sets out the VAT rate, the Smart Export Guarantee, and the planning limits. The quote for the house sets the layout.

A panel produces electricity when light falls on it. The survey looks at the roof you have: covering, pitch, usable area, shading from neighbouring buildings and trees, and access for the install. Those facts decide the layout. A south-facing pitch and a roof broken up by dormers are different drawings. The quote then lists the panels, mounting, inverter, electrical work, and labour for that roof.

Scottish weather changes through the day. The design is the equipment on the roof, specified after the visit. Solar panels describes the installation. Battery storage is the separate scope if you want daytime generation available later.

0% VAT on solar installs until 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 the rate is 5%. That 0% covers the panels, the cables, the controller, and the inverter, fitted in or on the building. If you only buy the equipment and nobody fits it, VAT is at the standard rate. Houses and blocks of flats both qualify.

VAT Notice 708/6 · correct as of 3 October 2026

The 0% is for the installation in the home. It is a tax rule from HMRC, linked above, and it runs to the date in the notice. The quote for a particular roof is still the document that prices the job.

Your electricity supplier has to pay you for solar electricity you send back to the grid. This is the Smart Export Guarantee. It covers solar in Great Britain up to 5MW. The rate stays above zero. The supplier chooses the pence rate, how long the contract lasts, and how you apply. You can compare suppliers.

Smart Export Guarantee · correct as of 3 October 2026

For a home solar system up to 50kW, the supplier asks you to show the kit and the installer are certified. An MCS certificate is the usual example. Other schemes that meet EN 45011 or EN ISO/IEC 17065:2012 also count. For systems above 50kW and up to 5MW, the guidance asks for a certificate for the installation.

Ofgem generator guidance · correct as of 3 October 2026

The longer account is Smart Export Guarantee for solar. The rate you are paid is the one the supplier offers. This page states the scheme rules and leaves the tariff comparison to that list.

You can usually put solar panels on your house without a planning application when they stick out by 1 metre or less from the wall or roof. You need to apply if the house is listed, in the grounds of a listed building, or in a World Heritage Site. In a conservation area, the panels go on the back of the house, or on a side that faces away from the road.

Scottish Government Circular 1/2024 (28 May 2024) · correct as of 3 October 2026

The same national rules cover flats. Solar on a flat follows the solar rules, and a heat pump follows the heat pump rules. In a conservation area, or in the grounds of a listed building, other changes to the outside of a flat need a planning application.

Circular 1/2024, flats · correct as of 3 October 2026

Panels on a smaller building in the grounds stick out by 500 millimetres or less, and that building sits behind the front of the house. Edinburgh homes that are listed or in a conservation area are covered in solar on listed Edinburgh homes and on the Edinburgh page.

Scottish Government Circular 1/2024 (28 May 2024) · correct as of 3 October 2026

A typical job is roof-mounted solar PV for a home in Edinburgh or the Lothians: panels, mounting, inverter, cabling, and the connection into the consumer unit. The workshop is Unit 2b Eastfield Industrial Estate, Penicuik, EH26 8HA. Heat pumps, where you want heating priced as well, are on heat pumps. Ask through the quote form.

The visit records the roof covering, the pitch, the clear area between obstructions, and the shading from chimneys, dormers, and neighbouring buildings. It also records where the inverter can sit and how the cable reaches the consumer unit. Those notes become the quote: the proposed array, the mounting, the inverter, the electrical materials, and the labour, including scaffold where the roof needs it. A battery or a heat pump is added only when you ask for that scope on the same form.

The grants guide sets out the heat pump amounts and the VAT dates. This post stays with daylight, the export scheme, and the planning limits. The price for a roof is the quote after the survey, sent once we have seen the house. Homes are in Edinburgh and the Lothians. The workshop is Unit 2b Eastfield Industrial Estate, Penicuik, EH26 8HA. Area notes for the council rules are on Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian, West Lothian, and Penicuik.

If the roof is listed or sits in a conservation area, read solar on listed Edinburgh homes. A rear roof and a road-facing roof are treated differently in a conservation area. The survey photographs the elevations so the quote follows the rule that applies to that building.

Panels on a smaller building in the grounds stick out by 500 millimetres or less, and that building sits behind the front of the house. The building itself already has permission. The house rule and the outbuilding rule are both on the solar page.

Scottish Government Circular 1/2024 (28 May 2024) · correct as of 3 October 2026