An installation is four jobs in a row: access, the mounting, the electrics, and the paperwork that turns a working array into a paid one. The physical half looks approachable, which is why people ask whether they can do it themselves. The half that decides the answer is the last one, because the certification, the network notification and the export payments are attached to who did the work rather than to whether it works.
What the job involves, in the order it happens
A survey first, which is a look at the roof covering, the timbers, the shading through the day and the route from the roof to the consumer unit. Then access, usually a scaffold, because nobody should be fixing to a roof off a ladder. Then the mounting, which means lifting tiles or slates and fixing brackets into the rafters, then rails across them. Then the panels and the DC wiring down to the inverter, and the AC side into the consumer unit with its own protective device and isolation. Then commissioning and testing, the electrical certification, the notification to the network operator and the MCS certificate. Only then is there an export tariff to apply for.
Learn how to install solar panels, and where the law stops you
Nothing prevents a competent person from putting a frame and panels on their own roof. Two things stand between that and a finished installation. The electrical connection is notifiable work under the electrical safety part of the building regulations, so it is signed off by somebody registered to do it or inspected by building control. And the certification that the payment schemes rely on is issued by an installer certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme for the installation they carried out, which a self install by definition does not have. Working at height is the other half of the answer, and it is the part that actually hurts people: falls from roofs are the commonest way the building trades kill somebody.
Mounting solar panels on a pitched roof, a flat roof and the ground
On a pitched roof the load goes into the rafters through brackets that sit under a lifted tile, and the tile goes back over them. Done properly nothing is drilled through the weathering. Done badly this is exactly where a leak starts, which is why a roofer's eye matters as much as an electrician's. On a flat roof the array is normally ballasted rather than fixed, so the question becomes whether the structure can carry the weight and whether the wind uplift has been calculated for the parapet height. On the ground the frame needs foundations, a trench for the cable and a route into the building, and it is the option where the mounting is the largest single cost.
What a self install costs you in things that are not on the invoice
The export tariff is the big one: a supplier paying under the Smart Export Guarantee wants a certified installation, so an uncertified array generates electricity and earns nothing for what it sends out. The reduced rate of VAT on energy saving materials applies to the installation supplied by a business, so the do it yourself route pays full rate on the kit. The workmanship warranty and the consumer code protections come with the installer, not the panels. And when the house is sold, a buyer's solicitor asks for the electrical certificate and the certification, which is the point at which the saving turns into a price reduction.
Questions people ask about solar panel installation guide
Can I fit the panels and get an electrician for the wiring?
Physically yes, and plenty of people expect to. The difficulty is the certification: it covers the installation as a whole rather than the electrical connection alone, so an electrician signing off the wiring does not produce the document an energy supplier asks for. Get the answer in writing from whoever you intend to ask before buying anything.
Do I need planning permission to fit an array myself?
The permission question depends on the building and not on who does the work. Most roof mounted domestic arrays fall inside permitted development, with tighter limits in conservation areas and on listed buildings, and a ground mounted array has its own separate rules.
Does my roof need work before the panels go on?
It is worth asking, because an array has a working life measured in decades and taking it off to recover a roof underneath is a real cost. Anything you would want to do to the covering in the next ten years is cheaper done first.
How long does a normal installation take?
Most domestic roof installations are a day or two on site once the scaffold is up, with the paperwork taking longer than the work. A ground mounted array or a job that needs the roof attending to first runs longer.