Ten panels is the usual answer for a three-bed home in Edinburgh or Fife. Some houses need eight, some fourteen. We work it out from your bills before we quote.
Edinburgh's measured solar output against London's, 10.6 vs 12.2 kWh a day. University of Edinburgh study.
Every solar and battery install is VAT-free until then. It goes to 5% the next day.
What suppliers currently pay for exported power. Certification is included so you qualify.
Every Forth Solar quote covers the whole job. Scaffold, roof anchors and rails, the panels, a hybrid inverter that will take a battery later even if you don't add one now, the DC and AC wiring, a new isolator and generation meter, bird mesh, DNO notification, commissioning and the certificate you need for an export tariff. There is nothing to add on afterwards.
Edinburgh's stone terraces, Fife's slate and pantile, and the concrete tile on the newer estates at Duloch, Bertha Park and Wallyford all take panels, but they take different fixings. On slate we use hooks that don't pierce the slate. On pantile we use tile-replacement mounts. On the new estates it's standard roof hooks and a quick job. If a roof is being re-covered anyway, in-roof panels sit flush with the tiles and are the easiest route to consent in a conservation area.
Most homes on this side of the country use 2,700 to 4,500 kWh a year. A 4.3 kW array of ten 430W panels makes around 3,600 kWh in a typical Lothian or Fife year, and a bit more on the Angus and Moray coasts. We size to your consumption. An oversized array with no battery just exports cheaply.
Due south is best. An east-west split still returns around 85% of a south roof and spreads generation across the day, which suits a battery. We map shading from chimneys, dormers and the tenement next door before we draw anything, and we only specify panel-level optimisers where they earn their cost.
All installations are commissioned and certified through our MCS-registered partner, so you qualify for Smart Export Guarantee payments.
Slate, pantile, concrete tile, flat roofs on tilt frames, and ground mounts for rural plots in Fife, Perthshire and Angus.
Hybrid inverters as standard, so adding storage later is a half-day job.
Suits: Daytime-heavy homes, 2–3 bedrooms
Ten 430W panels, hybrid-ready inverter, bird protection, full scaffold and commissioning.
Start my design · £5,995 totalSuits: Most 3-bed family homes
Same 4.3kW array plus a 5.1kWh battery so evening cooking, TV and heating run on your own daytime power.
Start my design · £8,995 totalSuits: 4+ beds, EV or heat pump
Fourteen panels and 10.2kWh of storage sized for an EV charger or heat pump, with off-peak charging on a smart tariff.
Start my design · £12,495 totalPrices include scaffold, electrical work, commissioning and certification. Your written design confirms your exact price before you commit to anything.
For most houses, no. Roof-mounted solar is permitted development in Scotland as long as the panels project no more than a metre from the roof and the building isn't listed. Edinburgh is the exception to watch: large parts of the city sit in conservation areas or the World Heritage Site, where panels visible from the street usually need consent. We check your address against the council's maps before quoting, prepare the drawings, and specify all-black or in-roof panels, which are approved far more often. Every install is also notified to SP Energy Networks or SSEN, depending on where you are. Systems over 3.68 kW per phase need prior approval, which we apply for during the design stage so it never delays the install.
Usually not. Roof-mounted solar on a house is permitted development in Scotland provided the panels do not project more than 1 metre from the roof and the building is not listed. Conservation areas and the Loch Lomond & Trossachs and Cairngorms National Parks have extra rules, and we check the boundary and prepare any drawings for you.
Yes. Panels generate from daylight, not heat, and a 2020 University of Edinburgh study measured Edinburgh's average output at 10.6 kWh per day against London's 12.2 kWh, only 13% less. Scotland's long summer days offset the short winter ones, and a battery lets you use midsummer surplus in the evening instead of exporting it for pennies. The east coast is the driest, sunniest side of Scotland: East Lothian, Fife, Angus and Moray all record some of the highest sunshine hours in the UK, so yields here match much of England.
Daily across the Lothians, Fife and Forth Valley. Dundee, Perth, Angus, Aberdeenshire, Moray and Inverness are covered on planned runs, usually two or three jobs in the same area over consecutive days. It adds a week or two to lead time, not to the price.
Your free design shows the layout on aerial imagery of your house, the annual generation estimate and one fixed price, within 48 hours.