Solar Panel and Renewable Installers in Edinburgh

Edinburgh\'s housing is unusually mixed. New Town and Old Town tenements share slate roofs across several flats, while the suburbs are full of stone-built Victorian villas with roomy, unshaded rooflines. Modern developments around the city edges tend to have standard concrete tile roofs that are straightforward for solar. Each type needs a different approach at survey stage.

For tenement flats, the main questions are roof ownership, access and whether neighbours agree. A top-floor flat with a designated roof section can be simpler, but many tenements share the roof space collectively, so written agreement from co-owners and sometimes a factor is needed. Victorian villas and modern houses are usually more straightforward, provided the slate or tile roof is sound.

Edinburgh has over 50 conservation areas, and the Old and New Towns together form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Inside these zones, roof-mounted solar usually needs planning permission rather than falling under permitted development. Visibility from the street, panel position on the roof slope and the use of in-roof systems all influence whether consent is granted.

We check the conservation area status of every Edinburgh address at survey stage. Where an application is needed, we prepare the drawings and liaise with the planning officer. Choosing in-roof panels, which sit flush with the slates, can improve the chances of approval on visible roof slopes in sensitive areas.

Air source heat pumps can suit some Edinburgh flats, particularly ground-floor tenements with a private garden or back green for the outdoor unit. Shared walls and limited outdoor space make installation more complex than for a detached villa, and a heat loss survey is essential to check whether the flat can hold the lower flow temperatures a heat pump needs.

Noise is a consideration in flatted blocks because the outdoor unit runs near neighbouring windows. We position units to minimise impact and check permitted development noise limits. For detached and semi-detached Edinburgh homes, heat pumps are generally more straightforward. See our broader heat pumps guide for how the technology works across Scotland.

A battery lets you store daytime solar or cheap off-peak electricity for the evening. In Edinburgh houses this is usually simple — a wall-mounted unit in a garage or utility room. In tenement flats, the main challenge is finding a ventilated, accessible location close to the consumer unit, which may be in a shared close or cupboard.

Our battery storage guide explains how home batteries work with solar and smart tariffs, and a survey confirms whether a battery is a good match for how and when your household uses electricity.

For a straightforward house outside a conservation area, expect roughly four to six weeks from survey to installation. The physical fit usually takes one to two days once scaffolding is up. Inside a conservation area, add around six to eight weeks for planning permission. Systems needing G99 approval from SPEN add further time. We give you a realistic timeline at survey stage and keep you informed throughout.

To see the full list of areas we cover across Scotland, visit our areas covered page. For general questions about solar, batteries and heat pumps, our FAQ page has answers.