What are the benefits of solar?

With a solar & battery system, you'll be buying less electricity from the grid and you'll be able to sell any excess electricity to the grid.

Electricity prices are expected to remain above historical averages until at least the late 2030s, so your system will protect you against volatile energy costs. It could also increase the value of your property by up to 3%.

Your household carbon footprint will drop. So you're not just saving money — you're helping the planet, too.

An industry forecast predicts that power prices will remain high until the late 2030s. Source: Cornwall Insight, July 2023.

Adding solar to a property with a D-rated EPC usually increases the rating to a C. A Rightmove study found that increasing your EPC from D to C results in an average property price increase of 3%, or £11,157. Source: Rightmove, August 2023.

Do solar panels work all year round?

The UK's not the sunniest country all year round but it's still worth installing a solar system. Modern solar panels generate electricity on cloudy and rainy days, so you can cut your energy bills and rely less on the grid. Also, solar panels tend to operate more efficiently in lower temperatures — perfect for the UK!

In the summer, you'll likely generate more electricity than you consume, so you can earn money by selling the surplus energy back to the grid. If you add a battery to your solar system, you can use smart tariffs to optimise your energy export and import, saving even more money.

For example, consider a typical property that uses 3,500kWh of electricity each year but also has a 4.3kWp solar panel system. This system will generate around 16kWh of electricity in June, but only 1.6kWh of electricity in December. However, the system's overall annual output (3,223kWh) almost entirely covers the household's annual usage.

Can I sell my excess solar energy to the grid?

Yes. Whenever you generate more electricity than you need (or can fit in your battery), you can sell it to the grid through a scheme called the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG). All UK energy suppliers with over 150,000 customers have to offer a price to households that export renewably-sourced electricity. Smaller energy suppliers can opt in, too. Your export tariff provider doesn't have to be the same as your energy provider, but many energy suppliers offer better rates to customers.

Are you accredited and what do the accreditations mean?

We're fully accredited by MCS, HIES, NAPIT and TrustMark. Find out more about what these accreditations mean below.

The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS)

MCS certifies, assures quality and provides consumer protection for microgeneration installations and installers, including solar PV. We're a member of MCS, so you can be assured your solar PV system will be installed to a high standard and built to last. With your MCS certificate, you're eligible to sign up to an SEG (Smart Export Guarantee) tariff with an energy supplier to make money from your excess electricity.

The Home Insulation and Energy Systems Quality Assured Contractors Scheme (HIES)

HIES is CTSI-approved Consumer Code that gives you protection for renewable energy installations, including solar photovoltaic panels, batteries and inverters. When you install solar with Sunsave, HIES protects any deposit you've made to us in the event that we can't install your solar system. Through their insurance-backed guarantee, they ensure your workmanship guarantee is upheld, in the unlikely event that we can't. HIES also provides a fair and independent arbitration mechanism if you believe that we haven't delivered the installation experience you expected.

TrustMark

TrustMark is the Government Endorsed Quality Scheme that covers work you choose to have carried out in or around your home. We've been vetted to meet TrustMark's high standards and have made a commitment to provide good customer service.

What are the benefits of installing a battery with solar panels?

Adding a battery to a solar panel system means you can store excess electricity that you would otherwise have exported to the grid. With solar panels on their own, you'll probably only end up using about 50% of what they generate, but the addition of a battery can usually take this up to about 75-80%.

If you're out during the day and your solar panels are producing electricity, this goes into your battery to use in the evening. Most solar systems have a battery sized according to your property, so it should provide enough electricity for the night before it needs recharging.

A solar battery also works well with time of use tariffs. It allows you to buy and store cheap night-time grid electricity to use later in the day when electricity would normally be much more expensive.

Is my roof suitable for solar?

Most roofs in the UK are suitable for solar panels. Your roof needs to be strong enough to support the weight of solar panels, but this is rarely a problem in UK homes.

We'll inspect your roof before going ahead with installation. If we have any doubts, we'll let you know.

It's also important that your roof can maximise the output of your solar panel system. The optimum UK roof for solar panels is south-facing with 0% shading and angled at 35-40 degrees. But this doesn't mean other roofs can't have an effective solar system.

East-facing and west-facing solar panels can be very productive. We can install panels on a north-facing roof, but we wouldn't recommend it. There's far less direct sunlight so you won't generate as much electricity to make it worthwhile.

How reliable are solar panels and solar batteries?

Solar panels are very reliable. They have no moving parts and all of their components are kept together in a sturdy aluminum frame. Most solar panels don't require much cleaning or maintenance, and all our solar panels come with the manufacturer's warranty which is typically between 20 and 30 years.

Batteries are also built to last a long time, although typically not as long as solar panels. Most solar batteries last around 10-12 years (our batteries come with the manufacturer's warranty which is typically around 10,000 cycles), so they might need to be replaced about halfway through the lifespan of your solar panels.