Where a panel can go on your home
Your roof, wall or garden, read against the rules.
Read moreThe register is the test
No maker can sell one of these until three things have happened: the type has been tested against G98, the device has been entered on the ENA Type Test Register, and the association has told the maker in writing that it passed. That leaves a buyer one plain question to ask about any kit. Is this model on the register.
Anybody can search it and no login is wanted. Each record carries the maker, the model, the type, the capacity and a status. Models that failed are kept there too, marked non-compliant, which is what makes it more useful than any seller’s own table. Where a record reads compliant, engineers at the association have looked at the device and found it acceptable for network operators to live with.
Nothing reaches you from us without a record. Send us the make and model of anything you have already bought and we will pull its record up with you.
Two UK retailers, the same product, opposite answers
On one day in September 2026 we read two British sellers describing the same microinverter. One called it fully G98 compliant and certified for connection. The other had it filed under products that are not on the register, and said it could not lawfully go into a socket. We have not settled that argument and we are not going to guess at it. It is why every device goes past the register here rather than past a seller.
The limits, in one place
- 800 VA of apparent power into the mains, and 3.5 amps, as the ceiling.
- Up to 253 volts, at 50 hertz.
- One device per home. The specification would give you one per final ring circuit and then hands the question to the connection rules, which are stricter.
- Four panels on the inverter at most, with no string carrying more than two of them in series.
- A socket rated IP55 or better if the plug and socket live outside.
- Direct current connectors to BS EN 62852, in matching pairs from one family, supplied by the maker along with the cable.
A standard plug in a standard socket. Indoors that is the whole connection. The question is what sits behind it on the circuit and what else is already drawing on that circuit.
Panel wattage and output are different
Panels feeding the inverter can add up to 2000 watts while the inverter still holds to 800 VA going into the house. Past 960 watts of panel the specification wants somebody qualified to look at whether the installation suits the property, a precaution it borrows from the German standard.
So a listing quoting one of those figures has told you half of what you need. Ask for both.
No battery
Neither a plug-in battery on its own nor a solar device with storage inside it was brought into the approved class. Buy a kit with storage attached and you are outside what was approved in August. Consultation responses said the exclusion would cut the payback, the government wrote that down, and the exclusion stayed.
It decides what you actually save. With no storage, the benefit is whatever you happen to be running while the sun is on the panel.
What it must never be plugged into
Four things are ruled out, and the specification puts them twice: on the device marking and in the instructions.
- Extension cables.
- Multi-way adaptors.
- Residual current device adaptors.
- Travel adaptors.
A panel standing in a garden is precisely where a household reaches for a lead off the kitchen socket. Get the outdoor socket done first and the panel goes up afterwards.
Insurance, and older wiring
Instructions with a compliant device are required to tell you to ask your insurer whether it changes anything. Make that call before the box arrives. Responses to the consultation kept returning to old houses and old wiring as the practical danger with these products, and the specification agrees: if a socket looks doubtful, have somebody qualified look at it first.
Questions about the kit
Do I need an electrician to set it up?
Not for plugging it in. The specification covers devices meant to be installed and run by ordinary people. You do need one the moment anything touches the fixed wiring, an outdoor socket included.
What is a one component device?
A single panel carrying its own inverter, with the direct current side already made up. Two component means you join panel to inverter yourself. Multi component means one or more panels plus a separate inverter, four panels being the ceiling.
Can I buy two and put one at each end of the house?
No. The limit counts devices per home, not per circuit and not per room.
The rest of what we do
On this page
- The register is the test
- The limits, in one place
- Panel wattage and output are different
- No battery
- What it must never be plugged into
- Insurance, and older wiring
- Questions about the kit
Ask us about your own home
Send us the postcode and tell us what the surface is made of. We reply by email.
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