Three things decide it. The product must carry an Interim Product Specification compliance declaration, it must hold a verified listing on the ENA Type Test Register, and it must have a factory-fitted plug approved for this purpose with a 5 A fuse. A CE or UKCA mark proves none of these.
This page is written to be usable with a box in front of you, or a marketplace listing open in another tab. Work through the three gates in order. If any one of them fails, the kit is not covered by the new route, whatever the listing says.
The kits themselves are simple — one to four solar panels, a microinverter, a lead, a UK plug. What is not simple is telling a compliant 800W kit apart from a grey-import one that looks identical on a product page. Both will be described as plug and play solar. Only one is permitted in the UK, and only the gates below tell them apart.
The date this all starts
Gate 1: The Compliance Declaration on the Product
The specification requires the declaration to be on the product itself. Not on the website. Not in the listing copy. On the thing you are holding.
Alongside it, two more items must appear on a compliant product: a statement that notifying your distribution network operator is mandatory, and a QR code linking to the registration and deregistration guidance. If a device is genuinely built to this specification, those markings are part of the build. Their absence is informative.
Be clear about what this gate does and does not prove. A declaration is the manufacturer asserting compliance. It is a necessary signal, not an independent one. That is precisely why the second gate exists.
This is also what separates a compliant product from a DIY solar build. The specification governs solar products placed on the UK market as finished devices. Assemble your own solar PV setup from a panel and a separately bought inverter and there is no declaration to make, which puts it outside the route no matter how carefully the installation work is done.
Gate 2: A Verified Listing on the ENA Type Test Register
This is the gate almost nobody mentions, and it is the one that actually bites.
Version 2 of the specification requires the device to be listed on the ENA Type Test Register andidentified there as compliant. Registration on its own is not enough. That changed between version 1 and version 2, and it is the difference between “the manufacturer has submitted something” and “someone has checked it”.
How to search the register yourself
- Go to ENA Connect Direct and open the generation device database.
- Search the manufacturer or model numberprinted on your box. Do this first, and do not rely on the Type filter alone — see the warning below.
- Check the row’s Typereads “Plug-in Solar”, and that the capacity and phase match your product.
- Read the Compliance Statusfield. “Compliant” is the only value that satisfies this gate.
- Stop there. The status field is the whole of what you can verify as a member of the public.
Two things routinely trip people up.
The first is the Type column. The register lists every device category in one table, so a Compliant badge beside a familiar brand may belong to an energy storage device at 5 kW rather than to a plug-in solar device at 0.8 kW. Match the model and the Type, or you have checked nothing.
The second is that the filter is not a reliable inventory. Records can exist under the Plug-in Solar Type without being returned by it — that is the case for two of them at the time of writing. Search by manufacturer or model, not by browsing the filtered list.
What you can and cannot see on a device record
No plug-in solar device is currently assessed as compliant. We set out the register entries and what that status means separately. That position moves — it changed overnight while this batch was being written — so we re-pull it rather than reprint it, and our certification tracker carries the current state by brand and model.
Gate 3: The Plug
The plug is more specific than “a UK three-pin plug”, and the detail is interesting.
BS 1363 contains a provision preventing a plug being used to connect a generating device to a socket-outlet. That was the original obstacle. SI 2026 No. 848 works around it rather than deleting it: it lets a notified body approve a plug type that fails BS 1363 only because of that provision, provided the plug conforms to BS 1363 in every other respect and complies with the Interim Product Specification.
So what you are looking for is a plug that is factory-fitted, fused at 5 A, with partially insulated pins. Not a plug you fitted. Not a rewireable plug. Not a Schuko plug with an adaptor on the end, which is how most grey-import kits arrive.
The specification also rules out a list of things people reach for when the cable will not quite go where they want it:
- extension cables and extension leads
- multi-way adaptors
- RCD adaptors
- travel adaptors and plug convertors
And the device goes on a socket circuit. Not a lighting circuit, not a circuit supplying fixed equipment such as a cooker or a boiler. Our guide to which circuits a plug-in device may go on covers the distinction between a socket circuit and a spur in more detail.
An adaptor is not a workaround
Why CE and UKCA Marks Are Not the Test
A CE or UKCA mark attests to conformity with the product safety rules that apply to a class of electrical equipment generally. Neither speaks to the plug-in solar route, because that route did not exist when those marks were designed, and neither involves the ENA register at all.
A dedicated conformity mark for plug-in solar is only being considered. It does not currently exist. So there is nothing a manufacturer can stamp on a box that stands in for the two gates above.
Expect to see those marks leading marketplace listings anyway, because they are the marks a seller already has. If the only evidence offered is a CE or UKCA mark, you have not checked anything about compliance with this route.
The Numbers to Check
These come from version 2 of the specification, published 16 July 2026.
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Maximum AC output | 800 VA |
| Maximum AC current | 3.5 A |
| Phase | Single only |
| Maximum DC panel capacity | 2,000 W (under review) |
| Maximum PV modules | 4 |
| Maximum modules in series | 2 |
| Maximum DC open-circuit voltage | 120 V DC |
| Maximum residual DC current | 5 mA |
| Battery storage in the device | Out of scope |
That last row works differently from the others, and it does more work than it looks. The specification does not contain a clause banning batteries; it excludes battery-integrated products from its scope altogether, so they never come within the plug-in route in the first place. A kit with a battery in the box is not a kit that fails one requirement — it is outside the definition the route is built on, which catches most of the well-known all-in-one products. The effect is decisive; the mechanism is a scope exclusion rather than a prohibition, and that distinction is widely misreported.
The important thing about the rest of the table is that the limits are independent of each other. A kit can sit comfortably inside the 2,000 W panel cap and still breach the module count, the series limit or the voltage ceiling. four panels is four panels regardless of how small they are. Two in series is two, and the 120 V DC figure is measured at the inverter inputs, which is where a third panel in a string will push you over.
There is also a figure that gets misreported constantly, so it is worth stating carefully. Above 960 W of PV, manufacturers must advise that you consider a professional assessment of your existing electrical installation. The advice is mandatory. The assessment is not. A kit above 960 W is fully compliant, and the hard cap remains 2,000 W. Crossing 960 W is not a compliance failure and anyone presenting it as one has misread the clause.
Compliance with the IET Wiring Regulations also applies — BS 7671:2018+A4:2026, published 15 April 2026. Amendment 4 is the version that matters here; a kit built against the previous set of electrical wiring regulations predates the plug-in route entirely. The full set of requirements sits in the Interim Product Specification itself.
What the Kit Test Does Not Cover
Three gates get you a legal product. They do not get you a legal installation. Four more things apply to you rather than to the box.
One device per household. The specification permits one device per final ring circuit. But it notes that GB network connection requirements also apply, and Engineering Recommendation G98 Issue 2 Amendment 1 2026 restricts this to onedevice per household “unless and until that is amended”. Two limits apply and the tighter one wins. From 27 August 2026, a household connects onedevice, whatever its circuit count. If you have read that the allowance is per circuit, that is the specification’s position and not the operative limit.
You need to notify your network operator. This is settled and mandatory. What is still in development is the simplified registration route — a different thing entirely from the obligation.
Some places are ruled out entirely. The specification prohibits installation on aluminium or metal composite cladding systems, high pressure laminate cladding systems, timber cladding systems, timber balconies, and buildings subject to external wall remediation or building safety remediation works. This is an outright prohibition. No landlord, freeholder or managing agent can waive it, and no compliant product makes it go away.
Where you live changes the answer. The limb of SI 2026 No. 848 that makes use lawful extends to England, Wales and Scotland. Say Great Britain rather than the UK. The plug approval limb does cover Northern Ireland, but G98 is a GB document, Northern Ireland uses G98/NI, and the specification says applying it there is subject to further consideration.
What a Compliant Kit Actually Does
Worth calibrating before you spend anything, because the gates are only worth clearing if the result is worth having.
Two panels on a balcony generate through daylight hours and feed straight into whatever is drawing power in the flat at the time. A typical plug-in kit plugs directly into a standard UK wall socket and needs no installation work at all.
DESNZ’s impact assessment puts annual bill savings at £70 to £110and anticipates kits selling for £400to £600, with £500 used as the modelling mean. Those are the only figures we will quote, because they are the only ones with a source behind them.
Read the savings range carefully, because the two ends are different installations. The ~£110figure is DESNZ’s 30-degree-tilt, south-facing case. A panel strapped flat to a balcony railing is closer to their 90-degree east/west case, at around £70. If your panels are going on a railing rather than a tilted frame, plan on the lower end.
Nearly all of that value comes from self-consumption rather than export. Every kWh you use as it is generated is a kWh you did not buy; every kWh sent to the grid is worth far less, and a Smart Export Guarantee tariff generally requires MCS certification that most plug-in installations will not have. Connecting a solar panel directly to a socket is a way of shaving your daytime baseload, not a way of selling solar power back to the grid.
If you own a suitable roof, a full rooftop system produces several times as much solar energy for the money, and rooftop panels are the better investment. Balcony solar exists for UK households that cannot do that — and that is the honest framing, not a hedge.
If You Cannot Verify a Claim
The practical sequence is short.
Ask the seller for the system reference on the ENA register. It looks like ANKER/20920/V1— a manufacturer code, a number, a version. Then check it yourself using the steps above.
A seller who cannot produce one has not been through this process. That is not a judgement about the hardware; plenty of well-built kits are sold by people who have never heard of the register. It just means the claim cannot be checked, and an unverifiable compliance claim is worth nothing.
The honest position is that waiting costs you part of a generating season. Buying a device you cannot verify costs you the price of the kit and leaves you with something your network operator is unlikely to accept.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are plug-in solar systems legal in the UK?
From 27 August 2026 they are lawful to sell and use in Great Britain, if they meet the specification. Before that date they are not. The permission attaches to compliant devices, not to the category.
Are plug-in solar kits safe?
The specification exists precisely because that question needed answering — hence the 800 VA ceiling, the 5 A fuse, the residual DC current limit and the prohibition on adaptors and extension leads. A device meeting all of it is engineered for UK domestic wiring. A grey-import device meeting none of it is a different proposition.
Do I need planning permission?
For most installations on a balcony or wall of a flat, planning permission is not the operative question — lease terms, freeholder consent and the prohibited-surfaces list usually are. Our guide to planning permission for flats covers where it does apply.
Do I need an electrician?
Not to plug in a compliant device; that is the point of the route. Above 960 W of PV you are advised to consider an assessment of your existing installation, and if your kit needs anything fixed or wired, that is ordinary electrical work with the ordinary rules attached.
Do I have to tell my DNO?
Yes. Notification is mandatory, and a compliant product has to say so on the product itself.
Are plug-in solar panels legal in Northern Ireland?
The position differs. The regulation that makes use lawful extends to England, Wales and Scotland only, and Northern Ireland’s network requirements run through G98/NI.
Can I add more panels to a compliant kit later?
Only within the limits the kit was verified against: four modules maximum, two in series maximum, 120 V DC maximum at the inverter inputs, 2,000 W of panel capacity maximum. Adding a fifth panel takes the installation outside the specification even if the inverter still clips at 800 VA.
If the kit you are checking is already in a cupboard rather than in a shop, the questions are different — see what legalisation does for a kit already bought.