Site index
Sitemap
Every published page on this website, grouped by section, with a line on what each one covers. 111 pages in total.
Main sections
- Home Solar, battery storage and EV charging across the South East.
- All services Everything we install and maintain, grouped by type of work.
- Technology guides Panels, inverters, batteries, mounting and monitoring explained.
- Property guide What suits a property by age, type, roof covering and orientation.
- Areas we cover Towns and counties across the South East, with a postcode coverage checker.
- Our completed work Installations we have completed, with system details and property notes.
- Advice and guides Sizing, cost, regulation, technology and aftercare, written for homeowners.
Services
17 service pages.
Solar installation
- Solar panel installation — Survey, design, roof works, electrical works and commissioning for a domestic solar PV system.
- Solar and battery systems — Panels, hybrid inverter and storage designed as one system, on one scaffold, with one commissioning.
- EV charger installation — Home charge points installed with a proper load assessment, PEN fault protection and solar-aware scheduling.
- In-roof solar — Panels integrated into the roof covering rather than mounted above it, with the weathering detailed properly.
- Flat roof solar — Ballasted and mechanically fixed arrays on flat roofs, designed around wind loading and the membrane underneath.
- Ground-mounted solar — Free-standing arrays on frames or screw piles, where the roof is unsuitable and the land is not.
Battery storage and EV charging
- Battery storage installation — Home battery systems sized against your consumption, sited properly and commissioned with the tariff in mind.
- Battery retrofit — Adding storage to a solar system that is already on the roof, without disturbing what works.
Servicing, repairs and aftercare
- Solar panel maintenance — Scheduled servicing of the whole system — array, fixings, DC side, inverter and monitoring — not just the glass.
- Solar panel cleaning — Deionised water cleaning where soiling is actually costing generation, and honest advice where it is not.
- Solar panel repairs — Fault diagnosis and repair on arrays that have stopped working, or never quite worked properly.
- Inverter replacement — Replacing a failed or ageing inverter, matched to the array that is already on the roof.
- Solar panel removal and refit — Taking an array down for roof work, extensions or repairs, and putting it back properly afterwards.
- Bird proofing — Mesh and clip systems to keep pigeons out from under an array, fitted to the panels rather than the roof.
- System monitoring and optimisation — Getting proper data out of a system, then changing its settings so it earns more from the same hardware.
- Solar health check — A one-off independent assessment of an existing system, with a written report on its condition and performance.
Commercial
- Commercial solar — Rooftop and ground arrays for businesses, designed around the site load profile and the grid connection available.
Technology
15 technology pages.
Panels
- Solar panels — What a domestic solar panel is, how it is built, and which specifications on the datasheet actually matter.
- Monocrystalline panels — The cell technology used in almost every domestic installation, and what half-cut cells actually change on a shaded roof.
- All-black panels — Panels with black frames, black backsheets and concealed busbars, and what the appearance costs in output and in price.
- N-type and TOPCon panels — The cell architecture replacing PERC in domestic modules, and what n-type silicon genuinely changes.
Inverters
- Inverters — What the inverter does, how MPPT works, and how the four architectures compare honestly against each other.
- String inverters — The conventional central inverter: how strings are designed, where it is the best value, and where it is the wrong choice.
- Hybrid inverters — A single unit managing array, battery and house demand, and when fitting one is worth the extra cost.
- Gateways and whole-home backup — what a gateway does, whole-home versus essential circuits, and what backup will actually run.
- Microinverters — One inverter per panel mounted on the roof: what per-panel conversion buys, and what it costs.
- Power optimisers — Per-panel DC electronics that keep conversion in one accessible box: the middle option between string and micro.
Batteries
- Batteries — How home storage works, what determines whether it pays, and the specifications that actually matter.
- LFP batteries — Lithium iron phosphate chemistry: why it became the domestic standard, and what it gives up in exchange.
- Anker SOLIX X1 — a modular hybrid storage system we install regularly.
- Battery sizing — How storage capacity and power rating are calculated from consumption data rather than from roof size.
Mounting
- Mounting systems — Hooks, rails, clamps and fixings — the part of the installation that decides whether the roof stays watertight.
Monitoring
- Monitoring systems — What generation, consumption and battery data actually tells you, and what a system needs fitted to produce it.
Protection
- Bird protection — Mesh and clip systems that close the gap under an array, why pigeons nest there, and how it is done without damaging the roof.
Property guide
15 property pages.
By property age
- Pre-1920 homes — Solar on Victorian and Edwardian houses: brittle coverings, irregular rafters, ageing electrics and planning sensitivity.
- 1920 to 1965 homes — Interwar and early post-war housing: hipped roofs, clay and early concrete tile, central chimneys and modest incoming supplies.
- Post-1965 homes — Trussed rafter roofs, concrete interlocking tile and modern electrics — the most straightforward housing stock to work on.
By property type
- Victorian terraces — Narrow slate slopes, party walls, rear back-additions and scaffolding through a shared alley — terraced solar on its own terms.
- 1930s semi-detached homes — The classic suburban semi — hipped or gabled roof, party wall stack, bay window and a side elevation that changes everything.
- Bungalows — Large roof area over a small floor plan, low eaves and easy access — with shading and consumption as the real limits.
- New build homes — Retrofitting or extending solar on a new build — structural warranty notification, shallow pitches, interrupted roof planes and covenants.
- Listed buildings and conservation areas — Where permitted development rights are reduced or removed, listed building consent is a separate process, and design choices decide the outcome.
- Barn conversions — Large uninterrupted roof planes, profile sheet or clay tile, long cable runs and rural supplies that shape what is possible.
By roof covering
- Tile roofs — Concrete interlocking, clay pantile and plain tile — the most common covering we work on, and the most forgiving.
- Slate roofs — Natural and fibre cement slate — brittle, holed rather than nibbed, and unforgiving of the wrong fixing method.
- Flat roofs — Ballasted or mechanically fixed frames, membrane life, wind loading and row spacing — flat roof solar is a structural question first.
- Metal and profile roofs — Standing seam clamps, trapezoidal through-fixings, thermal movement and dissimilar metal corrosion on sheet-covered roofs.
By orientation and shading
- East-west roofs — Less annual total than south, a flatter daily curve, higher self-consumption — and a design that pairs naturally with storage.
- North-facing and shaded roofs — Sometimes the answer is no. Where it is not, per-panel electronics, a different roof, an outbuilding or a ground mount.
Areas we cover
15 town pages, with local neighbourhood pages listed beneath the town they sit under. Towns without a page of their own are listed on the areas we cover index.
Solar panel installation in Reading Berkshire · RG1, RG2, RG4, RG5, RG6, RG7, RG8, RG10, RG30, RG31
Solar panel installation in Wokingham Berkshire · RG40, RG41
Solar panel installation in Newbury Berkshire · RG14, RG19, RG20
Solar panel installation in Thatcham Berkshire · RG18, RG19
Solar panel installation in Bracknell Berkshire · RG12, RG42
Solar panel installation in Maidenhead Berkshire · SL6
Solar panel installation in Windsor Berkshire · SL4
Solar panel installation in Basingstoke Hampshire · RG21, RG22, RG23, RG24
Solar panel installation in Winchester Hampshire · SO22, SO23
Solar panel installation in Fleet Hampshire · GU51, GU52
Solar panel installation in Camberley Surrey · GU15, GU16, GU17
Solar panel installation in Guildford Surrey · GU1, GU2, GU3, GU4, GU5
Solar panel installation in Oxford Oxfordshire · OX1, OX2, OX3, OX4
Solar panel installation in Didcot Oxfordshire · OX11
Solar panel installation in Henley-on-Thames Oxfordshire · RG9
Completed installations
9 project pages.
- A battery upgrade that became a full system rebuild, East Horsley — East Horsley, Surrey. The enquiry was for another 15kWh of storage. The survey found four roof orientations sharing two MPPTs, and the honest answer was to rebuild from the roof upwards.
- Solar panels in Slough — Berkshire (SL1, SL2, SL3).
- Solar panels in Ascot — Berkshire (SL5).
- Solar panels in Crowthorne — Berkshire (RG45).
- Solar panels in Sandhurst — Berkshire (GU47).
- Solar panels in Hungerford — Berkshire (RG17).
- Solar panels in High Wycombe — Buckinghamshire (HP11, HP12, HP13).
- Solar panels in Marlow — Buckinghamshire (SL7).
- Solar panels in Beaconsfield — Buckinghamshire (HP9).
- Solar panels in Amersham — Buckinghamshire (HP6, HP7).
- Solar panels in Chesham — Buckinghamshire (HP5).
- Solar panels in Aylesbury — Buckinghamshire (HP19, HP20, HP21, HP22).
- Solar panels in Hounslow — Greater London (TW3, TW4, TW5).
- Solar panels in Richmond — Greater London (TW9, TW10).
- Solar panels in Twickenham — Greater London (TW1, TW2).
- Solar panels in Kingston upon Thames — Greater London (KT1, KT2).
- Solar panels in Ealing — Greater London (W5, W13).
- Solar panels in Hillingdon — Greater London (UB8, UB9, UB10).
- Solar panels in Uxbridge — Greater London (UB8, UB10, UB11).
- Solar panels in Harrow — Greater London (HA1, HA2, HA3).
- Solar panels in Wimbledon — Greater London (SW19).
- Solar panels in Sutton — Greater London (SM1, SM2).
- Solar panels in Andover — Hampshire (SP10, SP11).
- Solar panels in Alton — Hampshire (GU34).
- Solar panels in Farnborough — Hampshire (GU14).
- Solar panels in Aldershot — Hampshire (GU11, GU12).
- Solar panels in Whitchurch — Hampshire (RG28).
- Solar panels in Hook — Hampshire (RG27).
- Solar panels in Odiham — Hampshire (RG29).
- Solar panels in Petersfield — Hampshire (GU31, GU32).
- Solar panels in Eastleigh — Hampshire (SO50).
- Solar panels in Southampton — Hampshire (SO14, SO15, SO16, SO17, SO18).
- Solar panels in Portsmouth — Hampshire (PO1, PO2, PO3, PO4, PO5, PO6).
- Solar panels in Fareham — Hampshire (PO14, PO15, PO16).
- Solar panels in Havant — Hampshire (PO9).
- Solar panels in Romsey — Hampshire (SO51).
- Solar panels in Abingdon — Oxfordshire (OX14).
- Solar panels in Wallingford — Oxfordshire (OX10).
- Solar panels in Wantage — Oxfordshire (OX12).
- Solar panels in Thame — Oxfordshire (OX9).
- Solar panels in Witney — Oxfordshire (OX28, OX29).
- Solar panels in Bicester — Oxfordshire (OX25, OX26).
- Solar panels in Woking — Surrey (GU21, GU22).
- Solar panels in Farnham — Surrey (GU9, GU10).
- Solar panels in Godalming — Surrey (GU7, GU8).
- Solar panels in Frimley — Surrey (GU16).
- Solar panels in Bagshot — Surrey (GU19).
- Solar panels in Egham — Surrey (TW20).
- Solar panels in Staines — Surrey (TW18, TW19).
- Solar panels in Weybridge — Surrey (KT13).
- Solar panels in Esher — Surrey (KT10).
- Solar panels in Epsom — Surrey (KT17, KT18, KT19).
- Solar panels in Redhill — Surrey (RH1).
- Solar panels in Reigate — Surrey (RH2).
- Solar panels in Dorking — Surrey (RH4, RH5).
- Solar panels in Haslemere — West Sussex (GU27).
- Solar panels in Midhurst — West Sussex (GU29).
- Solar panels in Horsham — West Sussex (RH12, RH13).
- Solar panels in Crawley — West Sussex (RH10, RH11).
- Solar panels in Chichester — West Sussex (PO19).
- Solar panels in Marlborough — Wiltshire (SN8).
- Solar panels in Swindon — Wiltshire (SN1, SN2, SN3, SN4, SN5).
- Solar panels in Devizes — Wiltshire (SN10).
- Solar panels in Chippenham — Wiltshire (SN14, SN15).
- Solar panels in Salisbury — Wiltshire (SP1, SP2).
- Solar panels in Tadley — Tadley, Hampshire (RG26). Clay tile and flat roof work on the north Hampshire border, with two documented installations.
- A complete home energy system in Reading, Berkshire — Reading, Berkshire. Ten panels across a pitched garage roof, battery storage against the wall below, and an EV charger — designed as one system rather than three separate jobs.
- Flat-roof solar PV in Benson, Oxfordshire — Benson, Oxfordshire. A specialist flat-roof mounting system turning an unused section of flat roof into a working array, with a tidy internal electrical installation.
- Solar, storage and EV charging in Padworth, Berkshire — Padworth, Berkshire. A whole-home energy system on an established tiled roof — solar PV, battery storage, EV charging and a surplus diverter for hot water.
- A 9.5kWp slate-roof array in Reading, Berkshire — Reading, Berkshire. Twenty black 475W panels worked across an existing slate roof, with the FOX EVO equipment and all its protection kept out of the house in the garage.
- A compact 3.6kWp AIKO array on a clay-tiled roof, Tadley — Tadley, Hampshire. Eight high-output AIKO panels on a Renusol system chosen for clay tile — a small array, but one sized properly and fixed properly.
- Flat-roof solar with FOX ESS storage in Tadley, Hampshire — Tadley, Hampshire. Twelve black panels raised across a flat roof, with the inverter, batteries and protection consolidated in the plant room — and 33 metres of armoured cable to get there.
- Solar with Sigenergy storage in Herriard, Hampshire — Herriard, Hampshire. Twelve AIKO 475W panels paired with 27kWh of Sigenergy storage and a gateway that decides, minute by minute, whether the electricity goes to the house, the battery or the grid.
- 7.125kWp with Anker SOLIX storage on Bath Road, Reading — Bath Road, Reading. Fifteen AIKO 475W panels laid out at around 20 degrees, paired with an 8kW Anker SOLIX X1 hybrid inverter and 10kWh of storage sized to keep most of the generation on site.
Advice and guides
20 articles.
Cost and savings
- How much can solar panels save? — The factors that determine a solar saving, the assumptions any estimate must state, and how to read a quotation critically.
- VAT on solar panels and batteries — The zero rate for qualifying energy-saving materials, the dates it runs between, and what happens afterwards.
Sizing a system
- Adding a battery to existing solar — AC coupling versus replacing the inverter, what a retrofit survey checks, and the network paperwork it can trigger.
- How many solar panels do I need? — Why panel count is set by your electricity consumption and the usable area of your roof, not by the size of your house.
- What size battery do I need? — How evening consumption, array size, tariff and inverter power rating together decide usable battery capacity.
Regulation and permissions
- Do I need planning permission for solar panels? — When roof-mounted solar falls under permitted development, and the property types where consent is likely to be needed.
- G98 and G99 DNO applications — The 16A per phase threshold, what notification and approval each route requires, and how it affects your install date.
- The Smart Export Guarantee explained — What the SEG obliges suppliers to do, what it does not fix, and what you need in place to apply.
- What is MCS certification? — What the MCS scheme covers, why it applies to both products and installers, and what it means for your paperwork.
Technology
- In-roof vs on-roof solar — How the two mounting approaches differ in appearance, weathering, cost and suitability for different roofs.
- Roof orientation and shading — How aspect, pitch and obstructions change what a roof can produce, and what can be done about shading.
- String inverter vs microinverters — How central and module-level conversion differ in shading tolerance, servicing, monitoring and failure behaviour.
Aftercare and performance
- Bird-proofing solar panels — Why pigeons nest under arrays, what damage it causes, and how mesh protection is fitted correctly and lawfully.
- Signs your solar system is underperforming — How to tell a genuine fault from normal seasonal variation, and the checks worth doing before calling anyone out.
- Solar panel degradation and lifespan — How panel output declines gradually over time, which components have shorter lives, and what determines how long a system lasts.
- Solar panel warranties explained — The difference between product, performance, inverter and workmanship cover — and what each one actually obliges someone to do.
General
- Do solar panels work in winter? — Why panels generate year-round but produce far less between November and February, and what that means for system design.
- Scaffolding and access for solar — Why scaffolding is needed, what affects the cost and duration, and what to expect around your property.
- Solar panels and EPC ratings — How solar is treated in an EPC assessment, why the improvement varies, and what an assessor needs to see.
- What happens during a solar survey — What a surveyor measures, inspects and asks about, and why a quotation without a survey is unreliable.
Company
- About Solar Fx Who we are, where we are based, what we install and how we work.
- How Solar Fx works The seven stages from enquiry to commissioning, handover and export registration.
- Our installation standards Roof works, fixings, electrical design, isolation, labelling, commissioning and handover.
- Warranties and guarantees Product, performance, inverter, battery, mounting, workmanship and weathertightness cover.
- Accreditations explained What MCS, RECC, HIES, TrustMark, NICEIC, NAPIT, ECA and IWA mean, and how to verify a claim.
- Contact Solar Fx Telephone, address, opening hours, company registration details and an enquiry form.
- Get a quote Coverage check and the detailed enquiry form for a free survey and fixed written price.
Legal and policies
- Privacy policy — What personal data we collect, why, how long we keep it and what rights you have.
- Cookie policy — The cookies and similar technologies this website uses, and how to control them.
- Terms — The terms on which we quote, contract, install and invoice.
- Complaints — How to raise a problem with us, the stages, timescales and escalation route.
- Accessibility — The standard this website aims at, known limitations, and how to report a problem.
- Sitemap — This page — every published page on the site, grouped by section.
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