Solar Panel Grants UK 2026: Every Scheme Explained

What We'd Do in Your Shoes

• England, lower income or on certain benefits: apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant through gov.uk or 0800 098 7950, and ask for solar to be considered.
• Anywhere in Great Britain, on certain benefits or in social housing, where the heating is or would become a heat pump, high heat retention storage heaters or responsive electric heating: ask an energy supplier about ECO4 too, before it ends on 31 December 2026.
• Wales: check Nest first, because it's free if you qualify. If you don't, Green Homes Wales's interest-free loan is the next best thing.
• Scotland: Home Energy Scotland has no grant or loan for standard panels, only for solar thermal and PV-T. If you're on certain benefits, Warmer Homes Scotland or ECO4 (above) may include renewables; otherwise you're paying, so do it before VAT goes up.
• Northern Ireland, lower income with old or no heating: look at Toasty Homes, which fits solar alongside a heat pump.
• Everyone else: there's no grant for you, so the help is 0% VAT (until 31 March 2027) and, in Great Britain, a good export tariff (in Northern Ireland, ask your supplier whether it pays for exports). In our view that still makes panels worth it on a decent roof; our worth it guide has a checker.

Every Scheme at a Glance

0% VAT

Installing solar panels and batteries in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, and there's nothing to apply for. From 1 April 2027 the rate goes to 5% (HMRC VAT Notice 708/6). It covers installation by a business: panels you buy to fit yourself, such as plug-in solar kits, are standard-rated.

A 4kW system costing £6,200 to £6,600 would cost about £310 to £330 more once VAT goes to 5% on 1 April 2027. A battery added to panels you already have, or a standalone one charged from the grid, is zero-rated too. The Energy Saving Trust puts battery storage at around £5,000 to £8,000.

The Smart Export Guarantee

Under the Smart Export Guarantee, electricity suppliers pay you for what you export. Ofgem says suppliers set their own rates, which must always be above zero, and installations must be in Great Britain. Octopus pays 12p a kWh on Outgoing Octopus to its own supply customers on certain import tariffs, and Good Energy pays 12p on its Solar Savings tariff to its own supply customers; both rates are variable. The Energy Saving Trust says that in Northern Ireland you should ask your supplier whether it offers an export tariff.

England

• Warm Homes: Local Grant. Gov.uk says that if you're eligible and your council has funding, it will survey your home and might suggest wall, loft and underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps, smart controls or solar panels. It then organises and pays for the work it agrees with you. Your home must be privately owned, by you or your landlord (who may need to pay towards the work), and rated D, E, F or G. Your household income must usually be £36,000 a year or less, but you may still qualify above that if you live in certain postcodes or someone in your household gets certain benefits. Apply on gov.uk or call 0800 098 7950.
• ECO4 runs until 31 December 2026 through energy suppliers, for people who claim certain benefits in private housing or live in social housing. A home you own must be rated D to G. If you rent privately it must be E to G and you need the owner's permission; social housing must be E to G. Gov.uk describes help with insulation and heating, and says to contact your council or an energy supplier. The catch for solar: with a gas, oil or LPG boiler you'd be offered other measures, unless the package switches you to a heat pump. Ofgem's ECO4 delivery guidance says solar PV is eligible only where the heating, before the project or installed as part of it, is a heat pump, high heat retention electric storage heaters or electric heating with a high enough responsiveness rating.

Scotland

Home Energy Scotland's grant and loan doesn't fund standard solar panels. Its table offers interest-free loans of up to £5,000 for solar thermal and for hybrid solar PV and water heating (PV-T) systems, with no grant, and says that among PV systems, only PV-T is eligible.

Warmer Homes Scotland offers eligible households support worth £10,000 or more. Its potential improvements include insulation, heating and "installing a home renewables system", without naming solar. It's for homeowners and private tenants who've lived in the home as their main residence for at least six months (unless they have an SR1, DS1500 or BASRiS form), in a home with a poor energy rating, council tax band A to G and a floor area of 230 square metres or less. The household must include someone aged 75 or over with no working heating, someone with a DS1500 or BASRiS certificate from a medical professional, or someone getting certain benefits.

Wales

• Nest, the Welsh Government's scheme, lists solar panels among the free home energy efficiency improvements you may be eligible for, alongside heat pumps and insulation. Check your eligibility with Nest on 0808 808 2244.
• Green Homes Wales, run by the Development Bank of Wales, offers interest-free loans of £1,000 to £25,000 over up to 10 years, with grant funding alongside the loans for some measures. It isn't means tested, but there are credit checks and affordability assessments, and the home must be yours and your main residence; landlords, new builds and listed buildings aren't covered. Its list of measures includes solar PV, solar PV with a battery, and solar thermal.

Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme's Toasty Homes: Heat Pump and Solar Technologies scheme, run by McGaffin Mechanical, fits an air source heat pump, solar PV, battery storage and insulation, fully funded. It's for owner-occupiers anywhere in Northern Ireland with a household income under £28,000 (single person) or £35,000 (couple or family), in homes with no central heating, solid fuel, an oil or LPG boiler over 15 years old or broken, or older storage heaters (Utility Regulator, list of schemes for 2026/27). The Smart Export Guarantee doesn't apply in Northern Ireland, but 0% VAT does.

What the Warm Homes Plan Promises

The government's Warm Homes Plan promises grant support for clean heating, but loans for solar panels and batteries, not grants. They'll come through a new zero and low-interest loan offer backed with an initial £2 billion, which it says should reach homeowners across Great Britain, rolling out in phases. No start date has been set. It also cites council group-buying schemes such as Solar Together, which helped thousands of households get panels at lower cost. The Energy Saving Trust says it will update its guide when more is known. Until a scheme opens, the help above is what you can apply for.

Offers to Be Wary Of

Our view: be wary of cold calls and adverts offering "free" or "government-funded" solar panels. The real schemes are run through your council (Warm Homes: Local Grant), energy suppliers (ECO4), Nest, Green Homes Wales, Home Energy Scotland and Warmer Homes Scotland, or the NISEP scheme managers, and you can contact them yourself. Gov.uk says installers or agents may contact you about ECO4: if you're not sure an offer is genuine, check with your council or the supplier they say they represent. Our free solar panels guide has a checker for every scheme.

Where to Go Next

• Solar panel costs: what a system costs without a grant.
• Are solar panels worth it? A verdict for your roof.
• How to pay for solar panels: loans and finance.
• Solar grants in Scotland and in Wales.
• VAT on solar panels: 0% until 31 March 2027.