Solar Panels in Birmingham: Installation, Batteries and Repairs

Birmingham roofs: semis, terraces and flats

The 2021 Census found 35.6% of Birmingham households living in semi-detached homes, 27.8% in terraced homes, 21.0% in purpose-built flats and 11.2% in detached houses. Each type raises different questions for solar.

A semi usually has one main roof slope big enough for a typical system. The Energy Saving Trust puts the average UK home system at about 4.5 kWp, which it says means around 12 panels and 20 to 30 square metres of roof. Whether yours fits comes down to the slope that faces the best way, and how much of it is lost to a chimney, a dormer or a roof window.

Terraces are smaller and busier. Chimney stacks, rear extensions and the house next door all throw shade at some point in the day. Panels wired in a string all slow down to the weakest one, so a shaded corner can drag down the whole array. Panel optimisers or a split design get round that. Can you put solar panels on a terraced house? goes through the options.

Flats are the hard case. In a purpose-built block the roof is usually shared, so solar is a question for whoever owns the building rather than one flat. If you live in a flat and want lower bills, a battery on a cheap overnight tariff may be the more practical route.

Planning permission and Birmingham’s conservation areas

Most Birmingham homes don’t need planning permission for roof panels. Under the permitted development rules, panels on a pitched roof must stand no more than 0.2 metres beyond the roof slope and must not be higher than the highest part of the roof, not counting the chimney. They should be sited, as far as practicable, to keep their effect on the building’s appearance and the area to a minimum, and taken down when no longer needed.

Conservation areas change that. Birmingham City Council lists 29 conservation areas, including Moseley, Edgbaston, Harborne Old Village, Kings Norton, Bournville Village and the Jewellery Quarter. In a conservation area, panels can’t go on a wall that fronts a highway. Of the 29, 11 also have Article 4 Directions, which take away some permitted development rights: Austin Village, Bournville Village, Edgbaston, Greenfield Road in Harborne, High Street in Sutton Coldfield, Moor Pool in Harborne, Moseley, Old Yardley, St Agnes in Moseley, Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues. If your house is in one of these, ask the council’s conservation team before you commit to anything visible from the street. If your home is listed, talk to the council before anything else.

Do solar panels need planning permission in Birmingham? sets out the rules, including garage roofs and panels in the garden.

Getting connected to the grid

Every solar system that connects to the grid has to be registered with the local network operator. Across Birmingham and the West Midlands that is National Grid Electricity Distribution. Under the MCS guidance on notifying network operators, a normal home system of up to 16 amps per phase is covered by G98, which means notifying the operator within 28 days of switching on. A bigger system falls under G99 and needs permission before it is connected. Batteries follow the same rules. The Energy Saving Trust notes that your installer will usually do this for you. Make sure you get confirmation that it has been done.

Switch Together Birmingham or a local installer

Birmingham City Council runs Switch Together Birmingham with iChoosr. It is a group-buying scheme that brings households together to get solar panels and battery storage at a competitive price, and it also takes registrations for batteries added to existing panels. It is worth registering to see what it offers, then comparing that with a quote for your own roof. Is Switch Together Birmingham worth it? explains how to compare the two fairly.

Batteries and EV chargers

Panels make most of their power around midday and in summer. PVGIS puts a 4 kWp south-facing system in Birmingham at about 476 kWh in July and 136 kWh in December. Whatever you don’t use as it is made goes out to the grid, so a battery is how you keep it for the evening.

The Energy Saving Trust says a typical home battery might hold 10 kWh and measure about 100 by 60 by 25 centimetres, a little taller and wider than a washing machine but much shallower. It puts battery prices between £1,500 and £10,000, with a 5 kWh system at around £4,600, and says fitting one at the same time as panels saves money. Checkatrade lists Birmingham battery installs at £4,240 to £7,207. Solar battery storage covers sizing, and adding a battery to existing solar panels covers older systems. If yours is on a Feed-in Tariff, Ofgem’s guidance says the change should be reported to your FIT supplier, and the meter arrangement decides whether payments carry on. Does adding a battery affect your Feed-in Tariff? explains the options.

An electric car is the other place to put spare daytime power. Some home chargers can be set to top up the car from surplus solar rather than the grid. Checkatrade lists Birmingham EV charger installs at £547 to £922, with an average of £704. If you rent your home or own a flat, the government chargepoint grant takes 75% off the cost, up to £500. See EV charger installation and can you charge an electric car with solar panels?

Costs and the VAT deadline

Checkatrade’s Birmingham listings put an installed solar system at £7,305 to £11,929, with an average of £9,299. Installation in homes is VAT-free until 31 March 2027 under HMRC’s rules for energy-saving materials. The cost guide compares the published sources, and the solar panel calculator gives a figure for your roof without a phone call.

After-care, whoever fitted your system

Solar needs looking after once it is fitted. The Energy Saving Trust says panels should last 25 years or more, while an inverter needs replacing after around 12 years. A system fitted in 2014 is already past that point, and some of the companies that fitted panels in those years have since closed.

We service and repair systems we didn’t install. That covers fault finding and repairs, inverter replacement, routine maintenance, cleaning, bird proofing and removing and refitting panels for roof work. If your installer has gone, what happens if your solar installer goes out of business covers where the warranties stand.

We are based on Sutton New Rd in Erdington, B23, so north Birmingham is on our doorstep: Erdington, Kingstanding, Castle Bromwich, Perry Barr and Sutton Coldfield. We work across the whole city and the West Midlands, including Solihull, Walsall, Tamworth and Lichfield.