Plug-In Solar With a Battery in the UK: Not Allowed Yet, and Why

You cannot legally add a battery to plug-in solar in Great Britain as of November 2026. The rules in force since 27 August 2026 cover solar-only devices: plug-in batteries and kits with built-in storage are excluded, and every compliant kit must warn against use with a battery. The useful questions are what to do instead, and what a battery would be worth if the rules change.

What the rules say about batteries

Four documents set the position, and they agree.

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Because SI 2026/848 says a plug-in microgenerator must not be installed or operated unless it complies with the specification, a kit used with a battery stops being a compliant device. The London Fire Brigade’s advice to residents makes the same point in plain terms: it recommends not connecting plug-in solar panels to batteries.

What that means in practice

• No “balcony power station” with storage. Kits sold in Germany often come with a battery unit between the panels and the inverter. Those products are outside the UK framework, whatever plug they are fitted with.
• No plug-in battery on its own. A battery that charges from a socket and feeds power back into your sockets in the evening is a plug-in storage device, and Ofgem says those remain prohibited.
• No DIY combinations. Wiring a compliant kit’s panels into a battery, or its inverter output into a power station, takes it outside the specification it was approved under.
• Portable power stations stay appliances. Charging a portable power station from a wall socket, like a laptop, is ordinary use. Using one off-grid with its own panel, never connected to your home’s wiring, is a separate gadget, not plug-in solar. The line you must not cross is a battery between your kit and the socket, or anything that feeds stored power into the house wiring.

The government’s July 2026 response also records that consultation respondents wanted it made clear that plug-in solar does not work in a power cut and cannot be combined with battery storage. The inverter switches off within 100 milliseconds when the grid fails, by design.

Why the government left batteries out

Battery exclusion was the most common complaint in the consultation. The government’s response says many respondents argued that batteries would raise self-consumption and savings and asked for a clear pathway for battery-integrated products.

The government’s answer was consistent throughout: the framework was designed and safety-tested for solar-only devices on UK circuits, battery-integrated products “raise additional technical and regulatory considerations” that were not assessed, and it “will continue to develop evidence” on them. In its conclusion it says battery-integrated products remain outside the current framework but it will continue to consider the evidence base as part of future work. No timetable was given.

What a battery would be worth

Even if it were allowed, a battery adds less to a plug-in kit than to a rooftop system, because an 800 W kit leaves relatively little surplus. Using the government’s own model for a household at home during the day:

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Those are ceilings, not forecasts. Three things pull the real figure down:

• Losses. Charging and discharging loses energy, commonly around a tenth for lithium batteries.
• Seasons. The surplus comes almost entirely between April and September. In winter, an 800 W kit rarely produces more than your fridge, router and standby devices use, so a battery would sit nearly empty; see plug-in solar in winter.
• Export income. If you have an export tariff, storing a unit means giving up its export payment. Against a 12p export rate, each stored unit is worth about 14p more, not 26p.

As a rough illustration, if a battery captured £50 a year of value, one costing £500 would take ten years to repay itself before any replacement. A household that is out all day has more surplus and would gain more; a household already home all day gains less. These are our illustrative numbers, not a product comparison.

What you can do instead

What could change, and when

The network side is already prepared. The amended G98 connection rules approved by Ofgem in August 2026 define plug-in electricity storage as a type of plug-in micro-generator, which Ofgem says was done in anticipation of the government possibly amending the regulations after further safety and standards work. G98 also caps all micro-generation at a property at 16 A per phase, so any future plug-in battery would have to fit within that.

Industry is moving too. Octopus Energy said on 1 October 2026 that a battery product of its own was due in the first quarter of 2027. Whether any plug-in battery can be sold and used in Great Britain depends on the government changing SI 2026/848 and the specification, which had not happened or been consulted on by 3 November 2026. Until it does, treat any UK listing of a plug-in battery, or a solar kit with storage, as non-compliant.

Germany allows plug-in solar with batteries under its own rules, which is why so many products exist; our English guide to balcony solar in Germany explains that framework. For the UK conditions in full, see is plug-in solar legal in the UK.

Next steps

• How much plug-in solar saves in the UK
• Is plug-in solar safe? UK sockets and RCDs
• How to choose a plug-in solar kit in the UK