Solar panels in Norfolk: are they worth it?

If you’re lucky enough to live among Norfolk’s national parks and chalk rivers and you’re looking to cut your electricity bills, solar panels could be the best way forward.

From West Walton to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk receives more sunlight than most areas of the UK, which gives residents with solar panels a significant advantage.

In this guide, we’ll explain how much solar panels cost in Norfolk, how the county’s sunny weather affects savings, and which grants can help you cut the upfront cost.

At Sunsave, we install across the whole of Norfolk – so if you’re wondering how much you could save with a solar & battery system, enter a few details below and we’ll provide an estimate.

What are the best installers in Norfolk?

1. Sunsave

At Sunsave, our mission is to make solar accessible to all UK households, which is why we’re offering the country’s first solar subscription service.

Sunsave Plus enables you to start saving on your energy bills immediately, with no upfront cost.

You’ll get the best-in-class kit installed on your roof, access to the best export tariffs, and the 20-year Sunsave Guarantee, which includes 24/7 monitoring & maintenance, a free replacement battery and inverter, and downtime cover – all for a fixed monthly fee.

Your system will also be insured by Aviva against damage, fire, and theft.

Our customers clearly appreciate our work, as they’ve left us more than 100 five-star ratings on Trustpilot, along with reviews praising our professional, responsive, helpful approach.

2. Solar Panel Funding

This Norwich-based company was created in 2018, and has since attracted thousands of rave reviews on Trustpilot.

Reviewers have been particularly enamoured with the company’s polite, friendly, helpful approach to selling, which director David Applegate explained is at the heart of his firm’s outlook.

He said: “For a lot of people, the idea of having someone come to their property can be quite unnerving, and that's why we're really proud of the way we do things, in that we don't send a salesperson to your home; we do it on Zoom.”

The installer counts Olympic gold-medal winning athlete Sally Gunnell among its customers, and in an interview with Solar Panel Funding’s YouTube channel, she was also full of praise.

“You just reassured us, because it is quite a scary thing - you're not quite sure what's involved, whether the figures really add up, will we save money in the long run, does it affect the cost of the house if we do sell eventually,” she explained.

“You guys very clearly answered all of our questions.”

3. Mr Solar

Mr Solar – or to use his real name, Ian Gilfedder – is a former car salesman who started this company in 2022.

From a base in Gorleston, he’s built a successful small business that’s won over loads of customers in the surrounding areas.

He said: “Solar energy has always been an interest for me, since installing my first system back in 2011, when a solar PV system cost £20,000.

“Since then, the industry has changed for the better.”

Gilfedder’s company uses solar panels from manufacturers including AIKO, Canadian Solar, JinkoSolar, and Trina, which all make some of the most efficient solar panels around.

How much do solar panels cost in Norfolk?

How many homes in Norfolk have solar panels?

51,890 homes in Norfolk have solar panels that are certified by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), as of May 2025.

Across the county’s seven districts, that means 12.8% of all households have installed solar panels.

This figure is more than double the national average of 5.3% – as it should be, since Norfolk is sunnier than most of the UK.

As this county-wide total only includes Microgeneration Certification Scheme-certified installations, the real number of homes with solar panels in Norfolk is probably a bit higher.

For more information, read our solar energy statistics page.

North Norfolk District Council discount

North Norfolk’s local authority has partnered with MakeMyHouseGreen to provide a £500 discount for households that want to go solar.

All you need to do is visit the solar installer through the page provided by the district council.

After declaring a climate emergency in 2019 and setting a target of reaching net zero by 2030, the council has made another small step towards a more eco-friendly region.

Solar Together Norfolk

Solar Together is a scheme that helps residents in a specific region get a substantial discount on their solar installations through collective buying.

You can take part in Solar Together if you’re a homeowner, small or medium-sized business owner, or tenant – as long as you have your landlord's permission.

It only runs for a limited time in each county, but homes in Norfolk have had the chance to sign up in 2022 and 2024, so it’s just a matter of time before the scheme returns.

National grants

There are some government grants available, but they come with stringent eligibility criteria that exclude most households.

To check whether you could qualify for any of the following grants, click the button below and answer a few questions.

Energy Company Obligation (ECO4)

You can access the government’s main scheme for reducing domestic emissions if you live in a low-income or vulnerable household with residents on at least one of a list of benefits.

ECO4 is a way for the government to compel large energy suppliers to make energy-efficient improvements in struggling households, at no cost to the inhabitants.

The initiative can help you to get a free solar panel system, though only if your property is heated with electricity, as 8% of households in the UK are.

If you don’t qualify for any of these grants, but you’re wondering how much you could save with a solar & battery system, enter a few details below and we’ll provide an estimate.

How much sunlight does Norfolk get?

Norfolk gets more sunlight than most parts of the UK.

Solar panels just need daylight to work, not direct sunlight, but they do produce more electricity under direct sunlight – which is why it’s great news that Norfolk is relatively sunny.

It varies across the county, though. Fakenham in North Norfolk receives 1,411 kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) per year on average, which is around 17% more than the UK average.

In the west, King’s Lynn gets 1,338kWh/m² – or 11% higher than the national average – while Loddon in South Norfolk enjoys 1,434kWh/m², which beats the UK average by a massive 19%.

All these figures are based on the European Commission's Photovoltaic Geographical Information System, which provides regularly updated solar irradiance data.

The solar industry measures sunlight by tracking the sun’s average intensity in a specific area, which it calls ‘solar irradiance.’

It measures this in kilowatt-hours per square metre – that is, how much energy makes it from the sun, across 93 million miles of space, to a particular square metre on Earth.

There are multiple factors that affect solar panel output, but solar irradiance is among the most important.

As you may expect, the more intense the sunlight that hits your panels, the higher the kWh/m², and the more solar electricity your system produces – which means higher savings for you.

How much power can a solar panel system generate in Norfolk?

A solar panel system can generate enough electricity in Norfolk to cover the majority of your annual usage, enabling you to reduce your electricity bills by more than half.

We designed the system below for a household in Broadland that consumes 3,670 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year.

Is it worth getting solar panels in Norfolk?

It’s definitely worth getting solar panels in Norfolk – and more so than it is in most areas of the UK.

Norfolk benefits from high levels of solar irradiance, especially when compared to the national average, which allows its residents to save hundreds of pounds per year by going solar.

There’s a reason why an impressive 12.8% of households in the county have decided to go solar panels – and that percentage will likely rise quickly over the coming years, as energy bills stay high and heat pumps and electric vehicles become fixtures in homes across the UK.

If you’d like to buy solar panels but you’re put off by the upfront cost, consider Sunsave Plus, our all-in-one residential solar and battery solution that’s tailored to your home, and delivered as a monthly subscription with no upfront cost.

It also comes with the 20-year Sunsave Guarantee.

At Sunsave, we install across the whole of Norfolk – so if you’re wondering how much you could save with a solar & battery system, enter a few details below and we’ll provide an estimate.

Solar panels in Norfolk: FAQs