Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels turn sunlight into electricity for your home. They generate clean, renewable power whenever daylight hits the panels, helping to lower your energy costs and reduce carbon emissions.
National planning guidelines mean that many new homes now have solar panels fitted as standard. At SNG, we've also got ambitious targets to fit solar panels and other energy-efficiency measures to thousands of existing homes through our retrofit programmes.
Sunlight shines on the panels and produces direct current (DC) electricity. An inverter then changes this into alternating current (AC), which can be used to power your home.
Solar PV systems perform best in bright sunshine; however, they will still generate electricity in overcast, cloudy conditions. Although south-facing roofs may typically provide optimal solar exposure over the course of the day, solar PV arrays can also be effectively installed on roofs with alternative orientations, subject to site-specific performance considerations.
If your home does not have battery storage, your solar panels will only power your home while they are generating electricity, within daylight hours. Any unused electricity is not stored and is effectively lost. During the evening and overnight, when the panels are not generating, your home will draw electricity from the national grid.
To reduce energy consumption costs:
- Operate high‑energy appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers during daylight hours, when the PV system is generating electricity.
If your home includes battery storage, any surplus electricity generated during the day can be stored and used later in the evening or overnight.
No. Whether you are moving into a home with an existing PV system or have had one installed as part of a retrofit programme, the system will operate automatically. You will receive a brief handover explaining how to use your system, but no manual settings or ongoing adjustments are required for normal operation.
Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) payments or previous feed‑in tariff (FIT) payments may be available to homeowners who export surplus electricity from their PV system to the grid. However, because PV installations on SNG homes are delivered and managed either by us or our development partners, customers are not eligible to claim payments under this scheme.
However, you will still benefit because the electricity generated by your panels is free to use, which helps reduce your energy bills.
Potentially, we would recommend contacting your energy supplier, to confirm.
They may ask for your MCS Installation Certificate, which you can find:
- In your Home User Guide (if your home is new), or
- In your handover pack (if PV was fitted to an existing home).
If you need another copy, please contact us.
Your solar PV system operates automatically whenever daylight reaches the panels. You will usually have a small in‑home display that shows when the system is generating electricity. If a fault occurs, an error message will appear on the display. If you experience any issues, please report them in the same way you would report any other repair.
Most battery systems include a simple display screen or can be connected to a mobile app that shows the current charge level. This will be explained and demonstrated during your handover. If you are unsure where to find this information or how to access it, please contact us and we will be happy to help.
Solar PV systems require very little routine maintenance and do not usually need to be cleaned as part of normal use.
SNG is responsible for maintaining the system where required, in line with MCS standards. This includes addressing any faults or safety issues with the equipment. Where access to your home or roof space is needed to carry out maintenance or inspections, we will contact you in advance to arrange this.
If you notice a problem with your solar PV system, or believe it is not working as expected, please contact us and we will be happy to investigate.
For safety reasons, most solar PV systems are designed to shut down automatically during a power cut. This prevents electricity from feeding back into the grid while engineers carry out repair work. Once the mains power supply is restored, the system will restart automatically.
At present, we are prioritising the installation of additional energy‑efficiency measures in our homes with lower performance ratings, rather than adding battery storage to properties that already have solar PV systems installed and are therefore already benefiting from solar electricity.
Any battery installation would need to be arranged through SNG, rather than by individual customer, as the battery would become part of the equipment that SNG is responsible for maintaining.
Savings vary depending on the size of your solar PV system, the weather, how much electricity you use during daylight hours, and whether you have a battery.
While we are unable to provide an exact figure, it is recommended that using appliances during the day and staggering high‑use items will help you make the most of the free solar energy, that your home generates.
We’ve recently received questions from customers about using plug‑in solar panels (sometimes called “plug‑and‑play” systems). At the moment, we’re not able to approve these for use in any of our homes.
We’ve made this decision because plug‑in solar systems can create safety risks. These units are designed to plug into a standard socket, but doing so can affect how important electrical safety devices, such as Residual Current Devices (RCDs), work. RCDs help protect people from electric shocks and reduce the risk of electrical fires, so it’s essential nothing interferes with their operation.
Plug‑in systems also aren’t always designed to work safely with existing household wiring. This makes it difficult to confirm whether an installation meets the required safety standards or who would be responsible for maintaining it.
Because of these concerns, and to keep residents, staff and homes safe, we’re not permitting plug‑in solar panels at this time.
As this technology develops and official guidance becomes clearer, we’ll continue to review our position. We’ll keep customers updated if anything changes in the future.