Eight plug-in solar systems currently hold a compliant entry on the ENA G98 type-test register in Great Britain: seven from UKSOL and one from Perlight. On price per watt of panel, the UKSOL Pro Max 1260W at £989 is the cheapest way to buy capacity (£0.78/W). On outright price, the UKSOL Pro Compact 515W at £599 is the lowest entry ticket. On payback against the government's own savings estimate, the Compact 515W is quickest at 5.4–8.6 years. Nothing from EcoFlow, Anker, Zendure or TSUNESS is on the register yet, so none of them can lawfully be plugged in today.
This is a ranking of what is actually certified, not what is actually advertised. Since 27 August 2026, a plug-in solar device is lawful in Great Britain only if it meets the Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification introduced by SI 2026 No. 848. In practice that means it needs an entry on the Energy Networks Association type-test register that your DNO checks. Everything below is drawn from that register and from retailer list prices we check by hand — the same figures that drive today's ledger.
Which plug-in solar kits are certified in the UK right now?
All eight rows below carry a compliant entry. Price is the retailer list price at the time of checking; panel watts are the DC rating of the panels supplied; payback is the kit price divided by the government's estimated annual saving band for an 800W system.
| Rank | Kit | Price | Panel W | £/W | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UKSOL Pro Max 1260W — 2P hybrid | £989 | 1,260 | 0.78 | 9.0–14.1 yrs |
| 2 | UKSOL Pro Plus 1030W — 2P hybrid | £899 | 1,030 | 0.87 | 8.2–12.8 yrs |
| 3 | UKSOL Pro Duo 890W — 2P hybrid | £849 | 890 | 0.95 | 7.7–12.1 yrs |
| 3= | UKSOL Pro Duo 890W — 2P ground-mount | £849 | 890 | 0.95 | 7.7–12.1 yrs |
| 5 | UKSOL Pro Compact 515W — 1P hybrid | £599 | 515 | 1.16 | 5.4–8.6 yrs |
| 6 | UKSOL Pro Compact 460W — 1P ground-mount | £699 | 460 | 1.52 | 6.4–10.0 yrs |
| 7 | UKSOL Pro Advanced 920W — 2P hybrid | POA | 920 | — | — |
| 8 | Perlight PowerPlug MAX 465 — panel-ready | POA | 465 | — | — |
Two entries carry no price because they are certified but not yet on general sale in the UK. The Perlight PowerPlug MAX 465 in particular is worth watching: it is the only non-UKSOL device with a compliant entry, and when it reaches retail it will be the first real competition UKSOL has had.
Which is the best plug-in solar kit overall?
UKSOL Pro Duo 890W Hybrid, £849. It is the cheapest certified kit whose panels comfortably saturate the 800W AC ceiling, which is the number that actually caps what you can send into your ring main. Below roughly 800W of panel you are buying an inverter you cannot fill; far above it you are buying panel you cannot export. The Duo sits close to the sweet spot at £0.95 per watt.
The Pro Max 1260W at £989 is the better buy only if your roof, balcony or garden is genuinely shaded or badly oriented. Extra panel area is how you recover a poor aspect: 1,260W of panel facing east will beat 890W facing east, even though both clip to the same 800W AC on the two good days a year when they could exceed it.
What is the cheapest plug-in solar kit that is legal?
UKSOL Pro Compact 515W, £599. One panel, one microinverter, plug-in hybrid mounting. It is the lowest-cost lawful way into plug-in solar in Great Britain, and on the ledger's payback column it looks like the best deal on the board at 5.4–8.6 years.
Read that column carefully, though, because it flatters small kits — see the methodology note below. A 515W panel will not generate what an 890W pair generates. What the Compact 515W genuinely offers is the smallest amount of money you can put at risk while finding out whether your balcony or wall works at all.
Ground-mount or hybrid mounting: does it matter?
It matters more to your price per watt than to your electricity. The Pro Duo 890W costs the same £849 in both hybrid and ground-mount form, so mounting is a free choice there. At the small end it is not free: the 1-panel ground-mount 460W costs £699 against £599 for the slightly larger 515W hybrid. You are paying £100 more for less panel, purely for the frame.
- Hybrid mounting suits balcony rails, wall faces and flat-roof ballast. It is the format most people picture when they hear "balcony solar".
- Ground-mount suits gardens, yards and anywhere you can angle the panel properly without drilling into someone else's facade. If you rent, or your flat has a freeholder, this is very often the path of least resistance.
What about EcoFlow, Anker, Zendure and TSUNESS?
These are the brands most people have heard of, and none of them currently holds a compliant plug-in entry on the register. That is not a quality judgement — testing takes time, and several of these devices are excellent products elsewhere in Europe. It is a legal statement about what you may plug into a socket in Great Britain today.
| Product | Price | Rated | Register status |
|---|---|---|---|
| EcoFlow EF-PS-800 — plug-in microinverter kit | £549 | 800W | Pending register |
| Zendure SolarFlow 800 — hub and battery | £799 | 800W | Pending register |
| Anker SOLIX Solarbank 2 AC (AE1032Z1-20) | £1,099 | 800W | Pending register |
| TSUNESS plug-in kit — microinverter | Check retailer | 800W | Pending register |
Note what the pricing does to the story. If EcoFlow's £549 kit is certified it immediately becomes the cheapest lawful entry on the board, undercutting the UKSOL Compact by £50 for considerably more capacity. That is the single change most likely to reshuffle this ranking, and it is why we watch the register rather than the press releases. The full reasoning is in ENA register versus "800W-class" marketing.
The two battery-based products — Anker's Solarbank and Zendure's SolarFlow — face a further problem. The interim specification governs generation. Devices that store and re-export energy sit outside its scope, so their route to compliance is not simply a matter of waiting in a test queue.
How we rank, and where the numbers come from
Three columns do the work, and each has a known weakness we would rather state than hide.
- Price is the retailer list price, checked by hand rather than pulled from an affiliate feed. It moves. The date at the top of this page is the date we last checked it.
- Price per watt divides price by the DC panel rating supplied. It is the cleanest like-for-like measure on the board, but it rewards large panel arrays that will spend part of the year clipping against the 800W AC ceiling.
- Payback divides the kit price by the government's estimated saving band of £70–£110 a year for an 800W system. This is deliberately crude, and it flatters small kits: it credits a 515W single panel with the same annual saving as an 890W pair, which it will not achieve. Treat the payback column as a ranking of how much money is at risk, not as a forecast of your bill.
If you want the honest version of the savings maths, including what orientation and self-consumption do to it, read plug-in solar payback: how long to break even?
What to check before you buy
- Find the device on the register yourself and note the manufacturer reference. You will need it for your G98 form.
- Confirm the AC output is rated at 800W or below. Panel watts above that are fine; AC watts above that are not.
- Check what the price includes. Some listings are panel-plus-inverter only, with the mounting frame extra.
- Confirm you have permission — landlord, freeholder or planning — before the box arrives, not after. See balcony solar for renters and flat owners.
- Plan the G98 notification. It is free and takes about twenty minutes: G98 notification, step by step.
Sources and further reading
- SI 2026 No. 848 — The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 and Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 (Amendment) Regulations 2026. Made 16 July 2026, in force 27 August 2026.
- GOV.UK — Households can save as plug-in solar panels come to market, for the £70–£110 annual saving estimate.
- ENA Connect Direct — the type-test register your DNO checks.
- Energy Networks Association — publisher of Engineering Recommendation G98.
- Energy Saving Trust — independent guidance on domestic generation and self-consumption.
- Retailer list prices, checked manually. Not an affiliate feed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best plug-in solar kit in the UK in 2026?
The UKSOL Pro Duo 890W Hybrid at £849 is the best all-round buy. It is the cheapest ENA G98-certified kit with enough panel to saturate the 800W AC ceiling, at £0.95 per watt of panel. If your site is shaded or poorly oriented, the Pro Max 1260W at £989 buys more panel to compensate.
What is the cheapest legal plug-in solar kit in the UK?
The UKSOL Pro Compact 515W at £599. It is a single panel with a microinverter and hybrid mounting, and it is the lowest-cost device currently holding a compliant entry on the ENA G98 type-test register.
Are EcoFlow and Anker plug-in solar kits legal in the UK?
Not as plug-in devices, not yet. Neither EcoFlow, Anker, Zendure nor TSUNESS currently holds a compliant plug-in entry on the ENA type-test register, so their kits cannot lawfully be plugged into a domestic socket in Great Britain under SI 2026 No. 848. They are widely on sale, which is why checking the register yourself matters.
How much does a plug-in solar kit cost in the UK?
Certified kits currently run from £599 for a single 515W panel to £989 for a 1,260W two-panel system. Add mounting hardware if it is not included, and installation if you would rather not fit it yourself. See how much do plug-in solar panels cost in the UK?
Why do certified kits have more than 800W of panel?
Because 800W is an AC limit measured at the microinverter output, not a limit on panel area. A 1,260W array feeding an 800W-rated microinverter is compliant: the inverter clips its output. Extra panel is how you recover output on cloudy days and poor orientations.
Do I need an electrician to fit one?
No. A certified plug-in kit is designed to be fitted without one, which is the point of the August 2026 change. You must still notify your Distribution Network Operator using a G98 form within 28 days. Hire an electrician if the mounting work is awkward, at height, or your freeholder wants the job signed off.
Which kit gives the fastest payback?
On the ledger's model, the UKSOL Pro Compact 515W at 5.4–8.6 years, simply because it costs least. That model applies the government's £70–£110 band to every kit equally, so it overstates a small panel's real saving. On like-for-like generation the 890W and 1,030W kits will close most of that gap.
How often is this ranking updated?
Prices and register entries are re-checked by hand, and the date at the top of the page is the date of the last check. If a device gains or loses a compliant entry, the ledger and this ranking change the same day.