Solar Panel Installers

NimbleFins lists some of the UK's most popular solar panel installers and explains what to look for when choosing the best installer for you. The experts at NimbleFins have researched 15 of the best national installers, which have 'excellent' customer ratings, and provide information on each installer regarding their workmanship warranties, certifications and memberships, where they install, which solar panel manufacturers they work with and how long they've been in operation. For homeowners wanting a local installer, there are also links to local, regional solar installers. After reading this article, you'll have ideas about which solar panel installers might suit you best.

• Best Solar Panel Installers
• How to choose a solar panel installer
• How to find a solar panel installer near me
  • Solar Panel Installers London
  • Solar Panel Installers South East England
  • Solar Panel Installers South West England
  • Solar Panel Installers North England
  • Solar Panel Installers Scotland
  • Solar Panel Installers Wales
  • Solar Panel Installers Midlands
  • Solar Panel Installers Northern Ireland

Best Solar Panel Installers

Here are some of the best, national solar panel installers. To help you pick the best one for you, we've included information on customer ratings from Trustpilot and their workmanship warranties.

Some of the best solar panel installers are listed in alphabetical order below, and are all MCS certified and have a Trustscore of at least 4.0. We've also included information on other certifications and memberships (Solar Trade Association, Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd and TrustMark), as well as a few other companies for which we couldn't locate workmanship warranty data (so these companies aren't displayed in the chart above).

Effective Home

With more than 200 employees, expert teams deployed across the country and what seems like a growing presence online, we think Effective Home is probably poised for growth. They install brands including Aiko, JA Solar and Longi solar panels, as well as SolaX, Sunsynk and Tigo parts (e.g. optimisers, inverters, batteries).

Our experience with a 'home assessor' was positive—he provided a few options for our home, and walked us through the pros and cons, so that we felt like we could make an informed decision. This is useful, as the amount of (new) information can be overwhelming for a homeowner.

Note: shortly after receiving the initial quote and returning with some follow-up questions, Effective Home offered us a discount in the form of free bird guard. Also, they offered a £0 deposit if we opted to buy the panels on finance.

Egg

Egg, or Cracking Energy (their website is https://crackingenergy.com/), launched as a new brand in 2022, and is owned by Liberty Global plc, a provider of broadband internet, video, fixed-line telephony, and mobile telephony services. The parent company is big—Liberty Global is a publicly-traded company with a $6.5 billion market cap.

In terms of solar panel systems, Egg works with brands like Longi, SolaX, SolarEdge and Tesla. Their workmanship guarantee is 2 years, and they're a member of the RECC (Renewable Energy Consumer Code). In March 2024, they introduced 0% financing options for solar panels and storage (aka home batteries).

Empower Energy

A family company, Empower Energy is a domestic and commercial solar installer with over 14 years in business. They have some of the highest customer ratings (2nd best of the companies in this study). Based in the South, they install commercial nationwide and domestic on the South coast, and have worked with a roster of household names like Bournemouth University, Shell and BT, as well as golf clubs and commercial parks.

Esolar

LMF Energy Services (esolar) / Esolar (and extension of LMF) won National Solar PV Contractor and Installer of the year 2023 at the Energy Efficiency Awards, as well as a host of regional North West awards over the years. Based in Wirral, Merseyside (North West), they'll install nationally within 14 days of survey.

You can get a preliminary online quote via their website, but you'll really need to speak with someone to firm up the quote, especially if you're not sure how many panels you need or will fit on your roof. Esolar works with brands like Trina Solar, Solis and Dyness, and offers solar panels on financing (e.g. we were preliminary shown 12.5% for 10 years).

Evergen

Based in Slough, Evergen covers the whole of the UK but has a local touch with solar teams and installers working in many local areas of the UK. They're one of the more established solar panels in the UK, in business since 2011. Evergen works with a range of manufacturers and offers monthly finance options spread over a maximum of 10 years, if you qualify.

Evergreen Power Solar

Evergreen Power Solar has evolved from a family-run business to a national company with offices around the UK. One feature we quite like about Evergreen Power Solar is that their quotes are valid for 12 months—in contrast, many other installers' quotes expired in a month or so. Also, they will send out a professional surveyor to survey your property in person, while many other companies will only quote virtually. Evergreen is an official Sharp partner.

Fusion8

Fusion8 is a family business that is trusted to install for EDF and Solar Together (a group buying scheme). Based in Milton Keynes, they will install solar around the country. While they're relatively young compared to some of the other national installers (since 2020), they have over 100 years of combined experience within solar and technology. We really like that they offer a leading 10-year workmanship warranty as standard (as does Project Solar UK).

Fusion8 also has an instant, online quote function, like esolar. We like this for information gathering, but again you'll really need to speak with someone to firm this up, to ensure you're getting the best solar PV system for your home. They work with a range of manufacturers including Jinko, Q-Cells, Trina Solar for panels; GivEnergy and Solis inverters; and GivEnergy batteries. Another point to note: Fusion8 had the best customer ratings of the 15 companies highlighted in this study.

Geo Green Power

In business since 2010, Geo Green Power are based in Nottingham (East Midlands) and install both commercial and domestic solar around the country. They're specialists in solar panel installs, as well as battery storage, EV charging, heat pumps and all other renewable energy technology. The company works with a wide range of manufacturers, including JA Solar, CanadianSolar, Sharp, Hyundai, Panasonic, Renesola, SolarWorld, REC and SunTech.

Glow Green

Glow Green is one of the larger solar installers here; recent Companies House filings show turnover of £24,418,446 last year (which is a lot more than most of the companies on this page, which qualify as micro or small companies for annual filing purposes).

Based in Bournemouth (South West), they install brands like JA Solar, Perlight, Trina Solar, SolarEdge, myenergi, Tesla and PureDrive around the country. One feature we really like about their quote process is that they provided three different pricing options for us: Value, Premium and Ultra—and the main bits of information were summarised in an email making it easy for us to compare them:

Heatable

Based in the North West (Cheshire), Heatable started as a family company specialising in boilers. Recently, they've expanded into solar panels for the home. They install REA panels, Enphase inverters, Alpha ESS, GivEnergy and Tesla batteries.

We quite like their online quote tool, because you can draw around the part of the roof where you want panels installed. One catch, however, is that for our roof the online tool estimated we could fit 9 panels—we think this probably overly optimistic, because human designers from other installers thought we could only fit 5 to 7 panels. But fun to try and you can get an online quote to get you started.

Joju Solar

Based in London but with multiple offices around the UK, Joju Solar was founded in 2006 by entrepreneur Joe Michaels and Oxford University renewables lecturer Dr Chris Jardine. They have designed and installed thousands of systems across the UK; for councils, universities, businesses and homeowners. They work with one of the best panel manufacturers, SunPower and Sharp, as well as brands like ReneSola and Tesla. Joju has won a host of awards from places like Storage & Solar Live and the EVIEs Awards.

Project Solar UK

Known as the largest solar panel installer in the UK, Project Solar posted turnover of £93,761,489 last year. They've expanded to produce their own panels, e.g. the Evolution Titan (444W) but they also install SunPower panels. (Personal experience: their panels are slightly on the large side so they couldn't fit enough on our roof and would not give us a quote.) On the plus side, they give a 'lifetime' warranty on their panels (which they told us is essentially a 99 year warranty)—but their own-brand product datasheets don't provide information on degradation, so we can't comment on the lasting power of their own panels.

Pure Energy

Pure Energy installs brands like Jinko, SolarEdge, Hanchu, Alpha ESS, myenergi and Growatt, and will come out in person to quote and do a thorough survey. We found this pretty useful, as having an experienced person look at our roof in person seemed more reliable than a salesman looking at an image on Google maps. It may take a little longer to get a quote (e.g. compared to an online quote or a virtual video or phone quote), but especially if you have an unusual roof or you're uncertain of what you need, this may well be worth the wait.

Solarsense

Solarsense stands out for having been around for longer than any other company in this study, incorporated in 2000 but founded in 1995. They've completed more than 15,000 residential, commercial and industrial renewable energy installations, including the Crown Estate the Duchy of Cornwall, Renishaw and the RSPB. Also, they're one of the few in this study based in the South West (along with Glow Green).

They install Sharp, Q Cell, JA Solar, Fox ESS and other brands. Their online customer ratings are not as good as other companies, but note that their Trustpilot score is based on only 3 reviews, which is not at all reliable.

UPS Solar

A relatively young company, UPS Solar installs nationally but has only been incorporated since November 2022. Based in Preston, Lancashire (North West), they install brands like Sharp, Q Cell, JA Solar and Fox ESS storage.

To learn more about the best solar PV panels (and batteries), you can read our detailed article on Best Solar Panels that provides in-depth research on the best solar PV panels (and batteries), photovoltaic panels, solar installers, and solar batteries, plus user reviews and expert insights.

How to choose a solar panel installer

When choosing a solar panel installer, it's important to ensure they are committed to providing excellent customer service and technical competence. After all, you want your solar panel installation to work and to last, without any headaches. Here is a list of items to check before committing to one solar panel installer:

Note about workmanship warranties: In addition to the equipment warranty, we think it's important to have a workmanship warranty from your installer, so that you are also covered if the installer makes a mistake. Be sure to ask your installer about their workmanship warranty. For reference, here are the workmanship warranties from some large, national solar panel installers:

As you can see, a market-leading solar panel installer workmanship warranty would be around 10 years (as offered by Project Solar UK and Fusion8, for example).

That said, if an installer makes a mistake, chances are you'll know about this pretty early on after installation...

Certifications and Memberships

By joining certain trade bodies and organisations, a solar panel installer demonstrates commitment to technology, installation and service standards. Here are some of the certifications and memberships to look for in a solar panel installer:

How to find a solar panel installer near me

In your local area, you will probably find there are two main types of solar panel installers—energy suppliers and specialist solar panel installers. Let's review the differences and pros and cons of each:

Specialist solar panel companies

According to the MCS website, there are over 2,000 accredited solar panel installers in the UK. Most of these MCS-certified solar PV panel installers are smaller companies that specialize just in solar panel (and home battery) installations, although some also install other renewable energy solutions like heat pumps.

There are a few large, national installation companies that cover the whole country (or near to it) and are quite adept at the quote and proposal process (meaning, you'll get a quick quote turnaround). We definitely recommend reaching out to at least one of these companies as one of the 3+ solar panel quotes you should compare before buying a solar PV system—remember to compare the cost of the solar panels, but also factors like solar power and warranties. We've listed some of the more popular solar panel installers in the table above.

You can also reach out to a smaller, local specialist installer. But unfortunately using the MCS website to find a local installer isn't very productive, as on their website it seems that nearly all of the 2,000+ installers claim to work in every region of the UK. So no help narrowing down your options to a local installer that way...

Instead, word of mouth or using Google maps to find a local installer can help. We've even knocked on the doors of neighbors with solar PV systems to ask about their installers.

Keep in mind that the quote process might be faster with a large company (they have established sales teams who are quick at putting proposals together) but you might get more hand holding and customised service from a smaller company, if you want that. In our experience, smaller, local companies are more likely to come out in person to discuss your needs and check out your roof space, but this process takes longer to get a quote.

Energy Suppliers

Many of the large energy suppliers now offer solar panel installation in addition to energy tariffs. A few of them do the actual installation themselves in-house, using their own employees (e.g. Octopus, E.on and Scottish Power). Other energy suppliers like EDF and British Gas have partnered with specialist installers (see the previous section) to do the work.

In our experience, the energy companies doing it in-house are still somewhat new to solar installations, so even getting the initial quote is not always smooth sailing. For example, Octopus have many limiting rules that meant they couldn't give us a good proposal (e.g. they didn't have the best equipment for our shade-impacted roof, and they have minimum panel requirements per roof face that limited the size of the system they would install for us compared to other installers); E.on doesn't yet install in our area; Scottish Power has a cumbersome quote process we couldn't complete easily.

Here's a list of the big energy companies and who does their solar installations:

We've also found that the energy suppliers doing their own installs are limited in the geography the currently cover, as many are still building up their solar install programmes.

You can use an energy company that partners with a specialist supplier—but why add one more layer? In our view, it's probably better to go directly to a specialist installer.

Solar Panel Installers London

Searching for the best solar panel installers in London? There are now dozens of solar panel installers based in London. And a lot of them are quite young, with many incorporated since 2020. Small coincidence that's when electricity prices started to skyrocket? We think not! The higher electricity prices are, the more 'value' you get from solar panels.

We've picked out 8 of the best London-based solar panel installers; read our London solar panel installers article to learn about their coverage areas, customer ratings and which solar panel, inverter and battery brands they tend to install.

Solar Panel Installers South East England

Looking for the best solar panel installers in the South East of England? Home to some of the sunniest areas in the UK, this region has a lot of really highly-rated solar panel installers and (unlike, say, London) many of these installers have been around for a decade or more.

Want to learn more about them? Read our South East solar panel installers article, where you can read about 11 of the best companies and learn about their coverage areas, customer ratings and which solar panel, inverter and battery brands they tend to install.

Solar Panel Installers South West England

Want to find the best solar panel installer in the South West? Another sunny region, the South West is home to loads of solar panel installers as well, providing a wide range of solar panel manufacturer options. They're also home to one of the largest, most established solar panel installers in the UK. Find out which one, and read more about their coverage areas, histories and top products, in our article on South West solar panel installers.

Solar Panel Installers North England

Wondering which is the best solar panel installer in the North? This area of England may be less sunny, but there's no shortage of solar panel installers here. We break out some of the best local solar panel installers in the North West, East West and Yorkshire. See which ones operate in your local area and learn more about their offerings in our article on North England solar panel installers.

Solar Panel Installers Scotland

Wondering which are the best companies for installing solar in Scotland? You'll find that many of the highly-rated solar panel installers in Scotland are general heating or electrical companies that also install solar and other green energy products. Read more about them, as well as some purely solar installers, in our Scottish solar panel installers article.

Solar Panel Installers Wales

Searching for the best solar panel installers in Wales? Wales has fewer local solar panel installers to choose from, but don't let that you stop you! We've organised some useful information about these companies to help you decide if one might be right for you in our Wales solar panel installers article.

Solar Panel Installers Midlands

Looking for the best solar panel installers in the Midlands? With a mix of newer and more established solar panel installers, those in the East and West Midlands have a range of 'excellent' local installation companies to choose from. Learn more about which manufacturers they install, their geographic coverage and their history in our Midlands solar panel installers article.

Solar Panel Installers Northern Ireland

Researching the best solar panel providers in Northern Ireland? We found fewer local NI solar panel installers but read our Northern Ireland solar panel installers article to learn about two companies that have excellent customer ratings.

Methodology

^To determine a 'Customer Ratings Rank' in the table of best solar panel installers, we gathered customer rating data from Trustpilot and Google, averaged these ratings then ranked the companies from best to worst, out of 15.