Two solar panels mounted on the outside of a flat’s balcony railing, with the Edinburgh skyline and the castle beyond.

Illustration — not a photograph of a completed installation

Estimate · about a minute

What would your balcony actually make?

Not a national average and not a brochure figure. Your postcode, your aspect, and what is in the way — run through the same method a certified installer has to use.

Start below ↓
  • Reads your own MCS irradiance zone from your postcode
  • Vertical-array figures, not roof figures
  • No export income in the numbers — there isn’t any
Fitted, inc VAT
£1,380

Solar Balcony 800 — two panels, 800 W microinverter, fitted and certified.

The estimator

Your number,
not an average.

Change anything and the figure moves. If it comes out badly for your balcony, that is the answer — we would rather you found out here than at the survey.

PostcodeKY11 3BZ

Enter your postcode to read your own MCS irradiance zone.

KitSolar Balcony 800

2 panels · 0.8 kWp · needs about 2.4 m of railing. It is the only kit we do — see the kits for why.

Balcony facesSE / SW
Anything in the way?Some

The flat above, a solid balustrade, the building’s own returns. Balconies are shaded more often than roofs, so this starts at “some”.

Average monthly bill£95
Estimated saving · year 1
£82
Pays for itself in about 17 years, against 25 years of warranted panel life.
System0.8 kWp · 2 panels
Fitted price, inc VAT£1,380
Annual generation≈ 488 kWh
Of that, used in the flat≈ 312 kWh
Spilled to the grid, unpaid≈ 176 kWh

About 36% of what you generate would go to the grid for nothing on this usage. Running the washing machine and dishwasher at lunchtime is the single change that reduces it.

We work these figures out the way a certified installer has to. Generation follows the MCS standard method (MIS 3002 Appendix B): your postcode’s MCS irradiance zone, read off the vertical-array table because a balcony panel stands upright, adjusted for what is in the way. How much of it you use rather than spill comes from the MCS self-consumption tables (MGD 003), at the occupancy pattern MGD 003 requires where occupancy is unknown — we do not ask when you are home, so that is the compliant assumption rather than a flattering one. Worth knowing: those tables were built for roof arrays, whose output is far more summer-peaked than a vertical one. A balcony array’s flatter year probably self-consumes slightly better than the table says. We do not adjust for that, because there is no standard method to adjust it by, so this figure is on the cautious side. Prices come from our published cost model and include 0% VAT, which applies to a fitted system until 31 March 2027. There is no export income in these figures and there is no missing line: a balcony system is not MCS or Flexi-Orb certified, so it is not eligible for the Smart Export Guarantee and surplus earns nothing. Payback is simple, not discounted, and the survey firms everything up.

Talk to us

Send us your balcony.

0.8 kWp · 2 panels · est. £82/yr · £1,380 fitted

We’ll only use this to answer you. No mailing list, no third parties — see our privacy page.

How this figure is worked out

Generation is kWp × Kk × SF, the method MCS standard MIS 3002 Appendix B requires of certified installers. Kk comes from the MCS irradiance dataset for your postcode’s zone, read off the 90-degree (vertical) table rather than the 35-degree roof one — that single choice is the difference between an honest balcony figure and a roof figure with a balcony picture next to it.

How much of that generation you use rather than spill comes from the MCS MGD 003 self-consumption tables, at the occupancy archetype MGD 003 mandates where occupancy is unknown. We do not ask you when you are home, so that is the compliant default rather than a convenient one.

Price comes from our published cost model and includes VAT at 0%, which applies to a supplier-installed system until 31 March 2027. Payback is simple and undiscounted.

What is deliberately not in it

There is no export income line. The Smart Export Guarantee requires an MCS or Flexi-Orb certified installation and a balcony system is neither, so surplus goes to the grid for nothing. Instead of hiding that, the estimator shows you how many units you are likely to spill.

There is no battery option, no smart-tariff uplift and no assumed change in your habits. Every one of those would make the number bigger and none of them would make it more true.

Happy with the
number? Say hello.

Tell us about your balcony and who needs to agree to it. We will come back within a working day.

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