Since 27 August 2026 you can legally plug a solar panel into an ordinary 13A socket in Great Britain and run your house on it during daylight. No installer, no scaffolding, no roof. Kits start at £241.50 inc VAT and we hold them in Coventry.
- 800VALegal ceiling, inverter output
- 28 daysTo file a free G98 notice
- £110Government saving estimate, a year
- 0Electricians required
What you are allowed to plug in
One rule decides everything: the microinverter must not put more than 800VA into your home. That is the box between the panel and the socket, and it is the only part with a legal limit on it.
| Combination | Into your socket | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| 465W panel with a 600W microinverter | 620VA | Yes |
| 625W panel with a 600W microinverter | 620VA | Yes |
| Any panel with a 1000W microinverter | 1000VA | No |
| Two separate kits in two sockets | 1200VA | No |
Your panel is allowed to be bigger than your inverter
Rows two and three above tend to surprise people. A 625W panel is fine behind a 620VA inverter, because the inverter is a valve. It cannot pass more than its rating whatever the panel does on a bright afternoon.
This is not a loophole, it is how solar is normally specified. Panels are rated in laboratory light that Britain almost never provides. Put a generous panel on a modest inverter and the system reaches useful output earlier in the day, holds it later, and does better under cloud. You give up a sliver of peak output in July and gain across the other eleven months.
Ask any seller for the ENA registration number. Compliant microinverters are type tested and listed by the Energy Networks Association. Ours is ZHEJI/15702/V1/A1, because Voltacon designs and builds the VMI600 rather than rebadging someone else's. If a seller cannot name a reference for the exact model, you may not be able to register the thing you have bought.
Three ways to start
All three use the same 600W VMI600 microinverter, rated 620VA, which is the part that carries the certification. Prices include VAT.
465W Plug & Play Kit
£241.50£201.25 exc VAT
Panel, microinverter, Wi-Fi monitoring and a 5m lead with a UK 13A plug, in one box. 1762 x 1134mm and 22kg, which a balcony railing will take.
View the kit625W Bifacial Pairing
£235.20panel £110.25 + inverter £124.95
An N-type bifacial dual glass panel that also picks up light bounced off the ground behind it. At 2382 x 1134mm and 33kg it wants a fence, flat roof or ground frame, not a railing.
View the 625W panelVoltacon VMI600
£124.95£104.13 exc VAT
Single MPPT, IP67, Wi-Fi monitoring, 10 year warranty as standard. Takes any panel from 400W to 670W. Buy this if you already have a panel sitting in the garage.
View the VMI600Add the adjustable 15 to 30 degree balcony and fence mount at £35.70, or a 5m UK 13A extension lead at £35.28 if the nearest socket is awkward.
The paperwork, in one paragraph
Tell your Distribution Network Operator within 28 days of plugging in, under a standard called G98. It is free, it is a notification rather than an application, and a compliant device cannot be refused. Your DNO is the company that owns the cables in your street, which is not the same as your electricity supplier. If you rent or hold a lease you will usually need the landlord or freeholder to agree first, and listed buildings and conservation areas carry extra restrictions.
The full detail on all of that, including a checklist for buying, is in our guide: plug-in solar rules in the UK, explained properly.
Being straight about what it does
A plug-in system offsets what you are drawing at that moment. There is no battery and no export payment, so anything generated while the house is empty is simply gone. If somebody is home during the day you will see most of the £110. If the house is empty from eight until six you will see the fridge, the router and the standby load, and not much else.
One panel handles background draw, a laptop, a TV, a slow cooker. It will not run an electric shower and it will not charge a car. Shifting the washing machine to midday is worth more than agonising over the mounting angle.
Do not put a 1000W or 2000W microinverter in a socket. They are good units for a wired installation, but they sit outside the plug-in category and need a G99 application, which is a real approval process. Our 930W balcony kit with a 1000W inverter is sold on exactly that basis.
Questions we get asked
Is this legal everywhere in the UK?
Great Britain, yes, from 27 August 2026. Northern Ireland sits under a separate framework, so check locally before ordering.
Does the 800W figure limit my panel?
No. It limits the microinverter's AC output. A 625W panel behind a 620VA inverter is compliant and generates more across a British year than a smaller panel would.
Do I need an MCS installer?
No. MCS matters for installations claiming export payments. A plug-in kit earns no export payment and needs no MCS installer, which is the entire point of the category.
Can I run it through an extension lead?
Use a dedicated wall socket. Trailing leads and multi-way adaptors are not designed to have generation pushed back through them.
Will it do anything in a power cut?
No. Grid-tied microinverters shut down when the grid goes down, deliberately, so they cannot make a dead cable live while someone is working on it.
Which way should it face?
South gives the most total energy. East or west spreads generation into the morning and evening, which often matches when people are actually at home using it.
Saving and consumption figures are the UK government's published estimates from the announcement of 26 August 2026. Real output depends on orientation, shading, weather and how much electricity you use in daylight. Check the current rules and your own permissions before buying. This is general information, not electrical or legal advice.
