Midlothian
Solar panels in Edinburgh, with the numbers shown.
A 12-panel roof in Edinburgh makes about 5,820 kWh a year and costs £6,360 installed; a free 30-minute video call sizes it to yours.
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Edinburgh's solar year
From 22.4 kWh per kWp in December to 123.9 in May: a roof in Edinburgh makes 5.5 times as much in its best month as in its darkest, and 915 kWh per kWp across the year.
Generation per kWp, month by month
Show the monthly figures
| Month | kWh/kWp |
|---|---|
| January | 28.1 |
| February | 48.8 |
| March | 79.1 |
| April | 107 |
| May | 124 |
| June | 110 |
| July | 113 |
| August | 102 |
| September | 84.5 |
| October | 57.4 |
| November | 38.8 |
| December | 22.4 |
Source: PVGIS v5.2 (European Commission JRC), SARAH3 database, 1 kWp, 14% system loss, 35 degree pitch, due south, checked September 2026.
Against Great Britain as a whole: Edinburgh makes 915 kWh per kWp a year, and the mean of our 85 county PVGIS estimates (our GB average) is 925, so Edinburgh is 1% below it.
How Edinburgh compares
Edinburgh is one of 7 Midlothian towns we track, and it ranks 1st of 7 for solar yield. The House of Commons Library settlement classification puts it in the core city class, with a population of 469,405, which makes it one of the largest places we publish figures for. Scale changes nothing about the physics: PVGIS gives a roof here 915 kWh per kWp a year, 2.51 peak sun hours a day averaged across the seasons, and on the 12p scenario about £247 of the year one benefit comes from solar you use yourself, with export income adding £586.
These are starting numbers, not a quote. The calculator below opens on Edinburgh's own PVGIS figure; change the panels, the battery or the export rate and it reruns. The design call replaces every assumption with your roof and your bills.
City of Edinburgh is the planning authority covering Edinburgh, which the House of Commons Library classes as a core city.
The charger is in the installed price but left out of payback: charging savings depend on your mileage and tariff, which the design call models properly.
Your real roof and usage, worked through on a free 30-minute video call. Use the full form or leave three details below.
Price this for your roof
Three details. We call or text within one working day to book your free 30-minute design call, on video or by phone if you prefer.
Generation is modelled from PVGIS satellite data for Edinburgh's own coordinates (55.95334, -3.18911), using the same 26.32p/kWh import value and £1,000 per kWp installed pricing as every Clearline estimate; the methodology is on our help page.
Who runs the grid in Edinburgh
Edinburgh sits in SP Energy Networks' South and Central Scotland licence area, so SP Energy Networks is the network operator (DNO) any solar panels or battery here are registered with.
G98 is the simple route. If the inverter, plus any battery, stays at or under 3.68kW per phase, SP Energy Networks only has to be told within 28 days after the system is commissioned.
Anything bigger is a G99 case and is applied for first. Ofgem's guaranteed standard for a low voltage generation connection quotation is 45 working days, with £80 paid for each working day late, and it binds SP Energy Networks as it does every network operator.
Sources: NESO DNO licence areas (3 May 2024); Ofgem, Distributed Generation Standards Direction guidance, checked 27 September 2026. G98 vs G99, explained.
Adding a heat pump or an EV charger in Edinburgh
A heat pump in Edinburgh
A heat pump does most of its work from November to February. Over those four months, 12 panels in Edinburgh make about 880 kWh, against 2,860 kWh from May to August, so winter heating runs mostly on grid electricity and the tariff matters more than the roof.
Scottish homes apply through Home Energy Scotland rather than the Boiler Upgrade Scheme: up to £7,500 in grant for a heat pump, up to £7,500 more as an optional interest-free loan, and a £1,500 uplift for rural and island homes (checked 28 September 2026).
Charging an EV in Edinburgh
From April to September, 70% of a Edinburgh roof's yearly output arrives, peaking at about 790 kWh in May on 12 panels. A car parked at home in daylight can soak up what the house, at around 70 kWh of daytime use that month, cannot.
Renters and flat owners with private off-street parking can get 75% off a chargepoint and its installation, up to £500 per socket, until 31 March 2027 (gov.uk, checked 28 September 2026). The calculator above adds a 7.4kW smart charger from £1,100 installed.
What the named kit costs, installed
Every system is designed around your roof on the free call before anything is fitted.
What else is true of Edinburgh
Edinburgh has around 234,000 homes, roughly a third of them flats, ranging from the Georgian and Victorian tenements inside the World Heritage core to modern suburban housing on the city's edge. Because so much of the centre is shared tenement stock, a roof there is often owned jointly by several flats, and where a slope faces a principal or street-facing elevation inside a conservation area, it comes under closer planning scrutiny than a standard suburban roof.
Edinburgh sits in SP Energy Networks territory. SP Energy Networks does not publish its own day count for a standard low voltage generation quotation, so the 45 working day standard that applies across the industry is the figure to plan against, with most single home systems using the quicker 28-day G98 route instead. The City of Edinburgh Council is the planning authority, and its 50 conservation areas include the Old and New Towns, a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering nearly 4,500 individual buildings.
The council has set a target for Edinburgh to become a net zero city by 2030, fifteen years ahead of Scotland's own national 2045 date, one of the more ambitious commitments among the UK's larger cities. Edinburgh Community Solar Co-operative already owns and runs 30 installations across the city, mostly on council schools, community centres and leisure facilities, with a combined 2.1MW generating around 1.1GWh of electricity a year.
Planning authority: City of Edinburgh Council
Sources: edinburgh.gov.uk · edinburghsolar.coop
Solar panel servicing and repair in Edinburgh
Faults, servicing and ageing inverters follow the same economics in Edinburgh as anywhere else, and the guides below price them plainly.
Common questions about solar in Edinburgh
What does a solar panel system produce in Edinburgh?
Each kWp of panels in Edinburgh makes 915 kWh a year on PVGIS figures, so a typical 12-panel system produces around 5,820 kWh, from about 140 kWh in December up to 790 kWh in May.
How much are solar panels in Edinburgh?
The price does not move by postcode. At £1,000 per kWp installed, 12 panels (6.36 kWp) come to £6,360 in Edinburgh before a battery. What Edinburgh changes is the return, about 5,820 kWh a year from that system, and your design call prices your actual roof.
Would a system in Edinburgh need approval from the network operator?
Edinburgh is on SP Energy Networks' network (South and Central Scotland licence area). Systems up to 3.68kW per phase of inverter output follow G98: SP Energy Networks is notified within 28 days of commissioning, with no approval needed first. Anything larger needs a G99 application before installation. Ofgem's guaranteed standard for a low voltage generation connection quotation is 45 working days, with £80 paid for each working day late, and it binds SP Energy Networks as it does every network operator. Our G98 vs G99 guide explains both routes.
How much can I earn from exporting solar in Edinburgh?
With typical use and no battery, a 12-panel system in Edinburgh exports about 4,883 kWh a year. At 12p per kWh that is roughly £586; a supplier paying more, or a battery that keeps more for the evening, changes the figure. See the export rates table.
Is solar worth it in Edinburgh in winter?
It works, but the year is lopsided. 70% of a Edinburgh roof's output lands between April and September; the four months from November to February give about 880 kWh on a 12-panel system. Payback is worked out on the whole year, not the winter.
How Edinburgh compares with its neighbours
The six closest towns we publish, run through the identical PVGIS query as Edinburgh.
| Town | kWh per kWp a year | vs Edinburgh |
|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | 915 | this town |
| Musselburgh | 900 | −15 kWh |
| Dalkeith | 897 | −18 kWh |
| Bonnyrigg | 896 | −19 kWh |
| Prestonpans | 924 | +9 kWh |
| Penicuik | 846 | −69 kWh |
| Queensferry | 896 | −19 kWh |
Same PVGIS v5.2 query for every town. Small differences are within year-to-year weather; more than about 30 kWh per kWp apart is geography.
Also for Edinburgh: Solar panels in Edinburgh from OVO Solar & Battery
See a number before you speak to anyone
Answer a few questions about your roof and usage and see an instant solar and battery estimate. No email needed to see the result.
Guides worth reading before your call
Sourced, dated and written by us. The same ground we cover on your free call.
Are solar panels worth it in 2026? Here is the actual maths
Roughly £1,000 per kWp installed, offsetting electricity at 26.32p a unit. The real arithmetic.
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Read the guide →Are heat pumps noisy? The 37 dB(A) answer, in plain terms
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Read the guide →Which tariffs are actually built for battery charging
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Read the guide →MCS, HIES, RECC, NAPIT, TrustMark and Flexi-Orb: which badge does what
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Read the guide →Get my free quote
Takes about two minutes. We call or text within one working day to book your free 30-minute video design call at a time that suits you. We design it around your roof and your numbers, and our MCS-certified, fully insured installation teams install it.