Solar panels in Manchester, installed by a local electrician

Solar panel installation across North Manchester

We fit solar panels and battery storage for homes and businesses across Manchester, working out of North Manchester near Prestwich and Middleton. Ashley's an electrician first, so we also fit EV chargers and do EICRs. We're an MCS-certified installer and an Octopus Energy Trusted Partner, rated 9.96/10 from 171 verified reviews, most of them on Checkatrade.

The Trusted Partner status is Octopus's own vetting scheme: Octopus checks the installers it refers its customers to, and our vetting covers home battery and EV charger installations as well as solar.

Domestic solar panel installation in Manchester

Most of our work is domestic: brick terraces in Blackley and Middleton, semis and bungalows in Prestwich, new builds in Whitefield and Heywood. Ashley does every survey himself, in person, and it's free with no obligation. One customer with a 1930s bungalow had been quoted six or eight panels by firms working off Google Maps. Ashley measured up, worked round the obstructions and got 10 on across the south and west slopes, which is what the house needed for the system to be worth doing.

After the survey you get a written proposal with the equipment, the panel layout and a payback calculation, with the assumptions shown so you can check the working. We mainly fit DMEGC and Trina Vertex panels.

Pitched roofs get an on-roof array, or an in-roof system on new builds and re-roofs. We also fit flat roofs on weighted rails, ground-mounted solar arrays, and solar panels on period properties and in conservation areas, where planning needs checking first. Every installation comes with the MCS certificate you need for the Smart Export Guarantee, electrical certification to BS 7671, monitoring where the equipment supports it, and two years of routine maintenance.

Battery storage installation in Middleton and North Manchester

More of our Checkatrade reviews come from Middleton's M24 postcodes than anywhere else, for solar panel installation, batteries and general electrical work, so we know the area's houses well. Ashley can usually get out for a survey in Middleton within a week or two.

We fit batteries with new solar, as a retrofit to an existing solar PV system once we've checked the inverter will work with it, or on their own on a time-of-use tariff such as Octopus Go. We fit AlphaESS, GivEnergy and SolaX batteries. Most homes end up somewhere between 5kWh and 15kWh, sized from what you actually use. They go in the garage or on an outside wall, never in the loft.

For Middleton, see battery storage and solar panel installation in Middleton, which covers Alkrington, Rhodes, Boarshaw and the rest of M24, or our Middleton page. Anywhere else in Greater Manchester, see home battery installations.

Certified installation

We're MCS-certified (NAP-66870), TrustMark registered and NAPIT registered. We're also members of the HIES consumer code, which protects your deposit if anything happens to the business. Panels usually carry a 25 to 30 year manufacturer warranty.

The in-house Renegade Solar team does the installation. We only bring in scaffolders and the roofing firm we've used for years, and the electrical work is never subcontracted.

Solar grants and money savings

What a system saves depends on your usage, how much of it falls in the day, the roof, your tariff and the export rate, so we work it out for your house at the survey rather than quoting a percentage. There's more in are solar panels worth it in Manchester.

You don't need a grant to have solar panels fitted, but a few things on the money side are worth knowing about. A renewable energy system cuts your energy bills and carbon emissions by whatever you stop buying from the grid, and the less you buy from the grid, the less a price rise costs you.

Domestic solar panel and battery installations carry 0% VAT instead of the usual 20%. The relief runs until 31 March 2027 and applies automatically on the invoice, and standalone batteries have been included since February 2024. Our 0% VAT on solar panels and batteries page explains what qualifies.

The Smart Export Guarantee pays you for electricity you export to the grid, and eligibility depends on the installation being MCS-certified. The solar and battery installation page covers the process and the paperwork, including the documentation your supplier needs to set up export payments.

A battery paired with an off-peak tariff charges when electricity is cheap and runs the house when it is not, with or without solar panels. Our Octopus Go battery installer page sets out how the pairing works.

For households on lower incomes in England, the Warm Homes: Local Grant is a means-tested scheme for properties rated EPC D to G, delivered through local authorities. Eligibility criteria change, so check the current rules on the GOV.UK Warm Homes: Local Grant page.

What customers say

"Ashley fitted 11 solar panels and a 6kWh battery to our house in Prestwich [...] In summer we now generate more electricity than we can use, and so we sell the excess back to our supplier which offsets our gas bills"

Google review

"Ashley did an excellent job installing the solar panels on my roof, the batteries next to my driveway, and the ground-mounted solar setup in my garden [...] I highly recommend him to anyone interested in installing solar panels and battery storage."

Checkatrade review

Where we fit solar panels in Greater Manchester

Mostly North Manchester: Middleton, Prestwich, Whitefield, Blackley, Chadderton, Crumpsall, Cheetham Hill and Radcliffe. Further out, Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, Bolton, Stockport and Trafford.

The survey and consultation are free. Get in touch and Ashley will come out and have a look.

MCS Certified (NAP-66870) · TrustMark Registered · Octopus Energy Partner · 9.96/10 from 171 verified reviews · Checkatrade profile