Solar and Battery Installations in Manchester

We design and install solar and battery systems for homes across Greater Manchester. The work involves the roof, the wiring, the consumer unit and - with a battery - careful sizing to match how the household uses electricity. That's why it matters that an electrician designs the system and oversees the install, rather than a salesperson with a script.

Ashley's the person you'll be dealing with from start to finish. He'll do the survey, design the system, oversee the install, and be the one you ring afterwards if there's a question.

The installation work is carried out by our in-house Renegade Solar team, with specialist scaffolding the only part we subcontract. Ashley remains involved through the survey, solar panel and battery design, electrical installation, commissioning and aftercare, so there is no handover from a salesperson to a crew you have never met.

Design and Planning

When you get in touch, a qualified electrician comes out to survey the property and design the system - not a salesperson. We'll go through the different installation types - on-roof, in-roof, ground-mounted or flat roof - and tailor the design to your property and your energy use. Every property is different, but the same attention to detail goes into a small domestic install as a much bigger job.

This matters because we've seen other installers recommend unsuitable or even dangerous setups - batteries in lofts, for example, which contradicts NAPIT safety guidelines. When salespeople are speccing jobs instead of electricians, corners get cut. With Renegade, the person doing the survey understands the technical requirements and isn't going to recommend something inappropriate just to make a sale.

It also matters on awkward roofs. One customer came to Ashley after several solar fitters were not interested in putting panels on a flat garage roof rather than the main pitched roof. Ashley visited, looked at the actual roof and designed a cheaper route because the job did not need scaffolding. Another customer said previous quotes based on Google Earth had missed the flat roof that made most sense for their house. Those are the kinds of details a proper survey catches.

Solar panel installation on real Manchester roofs

The roofs in Greater Manchester are rarely blank rectangles. On one pitched roof, the team fitted a substantial array above three rooflights, keeping the panel line clear of the windows while using the available upper section. We've also worked on older brick properties with slate roofs, chimneys and dormers, along with steep roofs on modern houses.

One flat-roof job was more involved. The array had to be divided across several roof sections around a roof lantern, parapets and nearby trees, using weighted mounting rails rather than treating the whole roof as one open area. A flat roof solar installation like that needs a measured layout, shading checks and enough maintenance access around the panels and roof features.

The same theme comes up on battery and inverter jobs. Reviews mention Ashley measuring awkward roofs in person, explaining written projections, working through manufacturer support during commissioning, and making sensible changes when a better battery option is available. That is the difference between installing a product and designing a system that actually suits the house.

Manchester housing stock and what it means for the design

Roofs round here vary street by street, and the array has to follow the house rather than the other way round.

Victorian terraces are the classic case: slate roofs, a chimney stack splitting what would otherwise be a clean rectangle, shared party walls on both sides and often a rear kitchen extension under a flat or pitched roof. Slate needs fixings and flashings handled by someone who works with the material, chimneys cut the usable area down, and party walls shape how scaffolding and access are organised. The result is usually fewer panels laid out carefully than a full roof of them, which is why the survey happens on the roof rather than on a screen.

1930s semis generally offer a bigger pitched area to work with, though hipped ends and chimney stacks still trim the layout. Post-war estates often have the simplest roofs of the lot: larger, plainer, and quicker to design around. Modern extensions bring rooflights, lanterns and flat roofs, which change where the array can sit but rarely rule the roof out - the flat-roof job above is exactly that problem solved. The gallery shows the range: rooflights, dormers, slate, steep modern pitches and flat roofs, side by side.

Whichever roof you have, the design questions are the same in kind: which mounting system suits the covering, where the obstructions sit, how shade moves across the day, and how the array ties into the wiring, the consumer unit and - where there is one - the battery.

What our customers say

"Ashley did an amazing job for us upgrading our solar panels after 3 had failed. Turned up on time and worked so hard putting right the botch job we had previously. Over the moon with the savings I have already made producing more power and reducing daily usage would highly recommend."

Checkatrade review, Manchester M9

The M9 job above was a repair we inherited. This one is the difficult-roof story in its original words:

"After several years of obtaining quotes for PV installations for my 1930’s bungalow, I gained a poor impression of solar providers. Main issue was I had a difficult roof with various obstructions which made the positioning of PV panels problematic. Most companies that estimated did so from a Google maps satellite view [...]"

Google review

Installation

Installs are carried out with minimal disruption to your home or business by the in-house Renegade Solar team. We only subcontract the specialist scaffolding, and Ashley coordinates that around the roof and electrical work rather than leaving the customer to organise separate contractors.

Commissioning

The system gets tested and commissioned to the relevant safety and regulatory standards, and you'll receive the full electrical certification. The grid connection paperwork is part of the handover too - small systems are notified to the network operator under G98 and larger ones need a G99 application first, which we prepare and manage. We've written up how G98 and G99 applications work if you want the detail.

Costs, grants, VAT and export payments

We don't publish package prices, because an honest number depends on the roof, the system size and the battery - and a quote modelled on your actual usage beats a brochure figure. What we can say up front:

• 0% VAT applies to domestic solar panel and battery installations until 31 March 2027, including standalone batteries. Nothing to claim - the rate is applied to the installation itself. See 0% VAT on solar panels and batteries for what qualifies.
• Surplus electricity can be exported for payment under the Smart Export Guarantee. Because we're MCS-certified, your system qualifies, and we handle the documentation your supplier needs.
• Warm Homes: Local Grant - a government scheme for lower-income households in England whose homes carry an EPC rating of D to G. It is means-tested and delivered through local authorities, and what it covers changes, so check current eligibility at gov.uk rather than taking anyone's word for it, ours included.
• A battery pairs with a time-of-use tariff - charging overnight at off-peak rates, running the house through the expensive hours, and storing solar surplus when the panels are making more than the house is using. We set the tariff integration up as part of the install; the Octopus Go battery installer page explains how that works in practice.
• Every quote shows its assumptions - the generation model, the usage it's based on, and the tariff logic behind the payback figures. If you're weighing the whole thing up, our are solar panels worth it in Manchester page sets out how we work the numbers honestly.

Aftercare

We're available for any questions or issues with the new installation. Two years' routine maintenance is included as standard.

All equipment comes with at least a 5-year warranty, and some panels carry warranties up to 30 years. We mainly use DMEGC and Trina Vertex panels - both have long warranties and tend to perform reliably on Manchester roofs.

Contact Renegade Solar

We cover Altrincham, Blackley, Bolton, Bramhall, Bury, Chadderton, Cheetham Hill, Crumpsall, Failsworth, Hale, Hale Barns, Hyde, Lees, Marple, Middleton, Oldham, Prestwich, Radcliffe, Royton, Rushholme, Saddleworth, Shaw, Stockport, Trafford, and Whitefield with dedicated local solar installation services.