The Short Answer
In our view Wales is one of the better places in Britain to pay for solar, but we'd check Nest first, because it can fit panels free. The Welsh Government's Nest scheme is for households on a means-tested benefit or a low income, in homes rated E or below (or D with an eligible health condition).
Owner-occupiers who don't qualify can borrow £1,000 to £25,000 interest-free through Green Homes Wales, which isn't means tested and lists solar PV and batteries among its measures. On DESNZ's figures for 2025/26, Wales had the lowest average cost per kW of any region for 4 to 10kW systems, about £5,700 for 4kW, and the south gets good sun. There's no VAT on solar panels fitted to homes until 31 March 2027, and you can be paid for what you export.
What We'd Do in Wales
- Check Nest first if you get a means-tested benefit or live on a low income. If it fits panels, they're free, so it comes before paying for anything. The checker below runs through its rules.
- If you own your home and would need to borrow to pay, register with Green Homes Wales before taking any other finance: it's interest-free and not means tested. Application forms go out as funding allows, so we'd get quotes from MCS-certified installers at the same time rather than wait.
- Aim to have the panels fitted before 31 March 2027, while the VAT is 0%. After that it's 5%.
- Sign up to an export tariff as soon as they're on, and compare rates: Octopus pays 12p a kWh on Outgoing Octopus, though only if you also buy your electricity from Octopus on an eligible tariff.
Check What You Could Get
Answer a few questions to see which free schemes could fit panels for you. It starts on Wales:
Free solar eligibility checker
Could you get solar panels for free?
Every UK scheme that can fit solar for free, checked against its own published rules on 11 October 2026. Takes about 30 seconds.
Question 2 of 6
Do you own your home or rent it?
Nest: Free Solar for Lower-Income Homes
Gov.wales says Nest can confirm whether you're eligible for a package of free home energy efficiency improvements such as a heat pump, insulation or solar panels. To qualify:
- you own or privately rent your home (not council or housing association)
- you get a means-tested benefit or live in a low-income household
- your home's EPC rating is 54 (E) or less, or 68 (D) or less if someone in your household has an eligible health condition
If your home is rated D (55 to 68) and no one has an eligible health condition, gov.wales says your details go on a reserve list. Call Nest free on 0808 808 2244 or check online; if you're not sure you qualify, Nest says it can still help with other grants, tariffs and benefit checks.
Green Homes Wales: Interest-Free Loans
Green Homes Wales is a Welsh Government scheme run by the Development Bank of Wales. It offers interest-free loans of £1,000 to £25,000 over up to 10 years, with grant funding alongside the loans for some measures, and a fully funded home assessment by a retrofit coordinator. It isn't means tested, but it's for owner-occupiers on their main home: landlords and tenants can't apply. Its measures include solar PV, solar PV with a battery, solar PV with a diverter or PV-T, and solar thermal. You register your interest first and get an application form as funding allows.
ECO4, Until December
ECO4 runs through energy suppliers until 31 December 2026, for people on certain benefits in private housing or living in social housing. Ofgem's ECO4 guidance says solar PV only qualifies where the home's heating, before the work or as part of it, is a heat pump, high heat retention storage heaters or responsive electric heating. So a home on a gas, oil or LPG boiler would be offered other measures, unless the package switches it to one of those.
0% VAT and Export Payments
Installing solar panels and batteries in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027; from 1 April 2027 the rate is 5% (HMRC). Under the Smart Export Guarantee, which covers Great Britain, suppliers pay you for what you export; Octopus pays 12p a kWh on Outgoing Octopus to its own supply customers on eligible tariffs.
What Solar Is Worth in Wales
DESNZ's 2025/26 figures for Wales, across homes and other buildings, give a mean of £1,424 per kW for 4 to 10kW systems (9,144 installs) and £1,838 per kW under 4kW. The 4 to 10kW figure is the lowest of any region in its table; the Great Britain mean for homes alone is £1,645.
South Wales gets good sun: PVGIS, the European Commission's solar tool, puts a south-facing system at a 35 degree pitch in Cardiff at about 1,029 kWh a year per kW, above the 950 we use for central England. The Energy Saving Trust puts the saving for a four-bedroom house in Aberystwyth at £840 to £870 a year with export payments, at July 2026 prices, and the payback at 9 to 10 years.
Is It Worth It for Your Home?
Put in your roof direction, how you use power and how long you'll stay. It starts on South Wales (Cardiff), but it prices panels at the Great Britain home mean, not the lower Wales figure above. If your quotes come in nearer the Wales mean, the payback is shorter than it shows:
Solar verdict
Are solar panels worth it for you?
Your region, your roof, how you use power and how long you're staying.
Which way does the roof face?
System size
How much electricity does your home use?
On these settings you'd use about 25% of the solar at home, or 53% with a battery.
Export tariff
Verdict
Yes: about £2,211 ahead
It pays for itself in about 10.3 years, so you'd be in profit by the time you move. Over the panels' 25-year life it's about £8,618 profit.
4,116kWh
made a year
£641/yr
saving plus export
£6,600
typical cost, 0% VAT
10.3 yrs
payback
0% VAT ends on 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 the same system costs 5% more, about £330 on this one.
Yield from PVGIS v5.2 (35 degree pitch, 14% losses, unshaded). Electricity 26.32p (Ofgem cap, England, Scotland and Wales), cost from DESNZ's 2025/26 mean for home installs of that size (£1,955 per kW under 4kW, £1,645 from 4kW), share used at home from BRE's SAP 10.2 self-use formula for your system and yearly use (typical is Ofgem's 2,500 kWh; an electric car adds average mileage at EV Database's efficiency, spread like the rest of your use, so charged overnight it uses less of the solar; a heat pump adds a 3-bed's heating at a SCOP of 3.5, spread by heating degree days, so mostly in winter), one £800 inverter replacement in year 12 (the Energy Saving Trust's figure and timing). Prices held flat, so no allowance for energy prices rising or falling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not eligible for Nest? Compare paid quotes
Solar panels have 0% VAT until 31 March 2027, and Green Homes Wales lends interest-free. Get free quotes from MCS-certified installers in Wales in 60 seconds.