'Transformative for renters or those on lower incomes'

Plans are in motion to sell balcony solar panels in the UK

Retailers including Amazon, Currys, and Asda are in discussions

These devices are expected to start at around £400

While rooftop solar panels can help to slash electricity bills, installing them is an expensive and complicated business — problems which new 'plug-in' balcony solar panels, set to hit major UK retailers, are looking to solve.

As reported by The Guardian, these innovative panels simply plug into a regular three-prong plug socket. Anything that's plugged in around the home — from fridges to PCs — uses the solar energy first before tapping into the power grid.

Representatives from Asda, Currys, B&Q, Amazon, Lidl, Wickes, and Screwfix have just met with the Minister for Energy Consumers, Martin McCluskey, to set out guidelines for selling these balcony solar panels. It seems they'll be widely available in the near future, and are expected to start at around £400.

Official research suggests savings of around £70-£110 a year from a single panel, so you'll have to use it for around four years before you get your money back. However, professional installation isn't needed, and nor is planning permission. A regular rooftop solar panels array runs into the thousands of pounds.

Coming soon

"Plug-in panels can be transformative for renters or those on lower incomes, so I welcome the conversation today with household names such as B&Q and Currys showing a huge amount of support for getting the panels in people's homes," said McCluskey, adding that they'll "help make the UK less reliant on global fossil fuel markets".

As well as cutting your electricity bills by an estimated 30%, you're also helping the planet of course, and this is part of a wider push by the UK government to add more solar capacity. Official figures say there were 269,000 solar installations across the country during 2025, a new record and a rise of 37% from the year before.

If you didn't want to feed your captured solar energy straight into your home's electricity circuits, you could invest in a solar battery instead. We've already seen reasonably priced products in this category from Lidl and EcoFlow.

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There's no fixed timeline, but the aim seems to be to get these panels on sale as soon as possible, and the UK government is now consulting on safety guidelines. Once they do appear in stores, all you'll need is a spare plug socket and a bit of sunshine.

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.