If you’re lucky enough to live among the stunning forests, cave networks, and parks that Robin Hood and Brian Clough once graced, and you’re looking to cut your electricity bills, solar panels could be the best way forward.

From Bulwell to Clifton, Nottingham receives more sunlight than most parts of the UK, which gives solar homes a big advantage.

In this guide, we’ll run through how much solar panels cost in Nottingham, how the city’s weather could affect your savings, and which grants might help you cut the upfront cost.

We install across Nottingham, 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 Nottingham?

We’ve created a set of stringent tests to assess more than 2,200 installers across the UK, and these companies have performed the best of any that install in Nottingham.

All of them are certified by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) or Flexi-Orb, accredited by HIES or RECC, approved by TrustMark, registered with NAPIT or NICEIC, and have earned a superb customer rating on at least one reputable review site.

The very best companies are also Which? Trusted Traders and provide a solar subscription option, though Sunsave is the only top-rated firm that installs in Nottingham and offers a subscription.

To see the top firms in the country, read our national guide to the best solar panel installers.

1. Sunsave

At Sunsave, our mission is to make solar accessible to all UK households – and that’s why we provide the UK’s first solar subscription.

Sunsave Plus enables you to start reducing your energy bills straight away, with no upfront cost.

You’ll get best-in-class kit, access to the best export tariffs, and the 20-year Sunsave Guarantee. This comes with 24/7 monitoring, maintenance, a free battery upgrade and inverter replacement if necessary, and downtime cover – all for a fixed monthly fee.

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

Our customers are massive fans of our work: they’ve left us more than 300 five-star ratings on Trustpilot, while applauding our helpful, communicative approach.

2. Wing Energy

Shaun Taylor provides a personal touch to his business.

Calling the firm will connect you straight to his home phone, where he’ll be more than happy to answer your questions and talk you through every step of your solar installation.

Wing Energy provides AIKO and JinkoSolar panels and Fogstar batteries to Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Leicestershire. It’s also a Tesla-certified installer, meaning you can get a Tesla Powerwall 3 from the company, if you desire.

Taylor’s friendly approach has seen him through the ups and downs of being an installer – with a little help from the government.

Wing Energy’s turnover fell by £100,000 in 2023, at which point he applied for assistance, and received invaluable help with his business’s website.

He said at the time that the consultant’s work on the website “is helping us to generate leads, which is vitally important to secure the jobs we’ve got. It’s been a lifesaver.”

Since then, his firm has thrived, and has a blemish-free five-star rating on Google.

3. Arnold Electrical

The installer has served Nottinghamshire since 1994, and has deep roots in the community.

Arnold Electrical has sponsored amateur football club SJR Worksop in recent years, as well as Notts County during the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons.

Speaking to Notts County, the firm’s company partner Paul Goulding said: “This partnership represents more than just a working relationship - it’s a celebration of two Nottingham institutions coming together.

“At Arnold Electrical, we are passionate about supporting local organisations – and partnering with the world’s oldest professional football club is a fantastic milestone for us.”

Customers have heaped praise on the installer, highlighting the staff’s professionalism, hard work, and willingness to fix any mistakes straight away.

Goulding gets a shout-out from multiple happy reviewers, with one identifying him as “a perfect contact point throughout the process”.

How much do solar panels cost in Nottingham?

A 4.5kWp solar & battery system costs £10,908 to buy and install in Nottingham, on average.

This system includes 10 solar panels with a 450-watt peak power rating, and a 5kWh battery.

We've added the cost of installing a 5kWh battery, as it can massively increase your returns.

A battery lets you use more solar-generated electricity at home – known as self-consumption – which means you buy less electricity from the grid.

You can also sign up for the best export tariffs and time-of-use import tariffs, and join grid flexibility services like virtual power plants.

Around 94% of new solar panel installations in the UK include a battery, according to data from Flexi-Orb and the EPVS.

There are many reasons why you could end up paying a different amount for your solar panel system, such as its size, the installation’s complexity, and which installer you pick.

To find out everything else you need to know, read our guide to solar panel costs.

At Sunsave, we install all over Nottingham – 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.

Are there any grants for solar panels in Nottingham?

The only solar panel grants available in Nottingham at the moment are the same UK government grants that are available in most cities around the country.

Every council in Nottinghamshire has won access to funding from the government’s Warm Homes: Local Grant and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund.

But when it comes to local assistance, even Solar Together – which has launched group-buying projects in most areas of England and Wales – hasn’t visited Nottingham yet.

Nottingham is aiming to become the UK’s first Carbon Neutral City by 2028, but has mainly focused its energy on winning UK government funding for nationwide programmes, and decarbonising its buildings and vehicles.

National grants

Households in Nottingham may be able to access some national grants – and if you think you might qualify for any of them, you should definitely look into applying.

Solar panels can cut your electricity bills by hundreds of pounds per year, shrink your carbon footprint, and increase your property’s value, but the upfront cost is often high. Grants can make them affordable – or even free.

To see which schemes you may be eligible for, use our grant eligibility checker.

Warm Homes: Local Grant

The Warm Homes: Local Grant supplies local authorities in England with funding they can use to improve the energy efficiency and heating systems of qualifying homes.

The scheme, which began in April 2025 and is set to run until 2028, is focused on serving energy-inefficient households that are deprived, low-income, or get at least one means-tested benefit.

In its latest funding round, it gave more than £69 million to the Midlands Net Zero Hub, which includes every Nottinghamshire council.

So if you’re eligible and you live in Nottingham, you could get up to £30,000 in grant money. 

This includes £15,000 for a low-carbon heating system – like a heat pump or electric storage heater – and £15,000 for energy performance upgrades.

These upgrades include a solar & battery system, as well as other improvements like insulation, draught-proofing, and double glazing.

Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund

This UK government scheme gives funding to social housing landlords, including local authorities, so they can upgrade the energy efficiency of their properties with measures like solar panels and insulation.

The programme began in October 2020, initially as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, then in its current form since September 2024.

It’s handed out more than £1 billion of funding overall, and in its most recent round, it gave more than £75 million to councils and social housing providers in the Midlands.

Homeowners can’t apply, but if your landlord has received funding, you can contact them to advocate for your social housing to be included in any works.

Energy Company Obligation (ECO4)

This is the government’s flagship scheme for cutting residential emissions – and if you live in a low-income or vulnerable household with a resident who’s receiving a qualifying benefit, you may be able to get some funding.

Unfortunately, the scheme is set to end in December 2026.

Until then, ECO4 will remain the government’s primary way of compelling large energy suppliers to make energy-efficient upgrades in deprived homes, at no cost to the household.

The programme can get you a free solar panel system, as it has done for more than 65,000 homes – though only if your property is heated with electricity, as 11.2% of households in England are.

For more information, read our full guide to the ECO4 scheme.

How many homes in Nottingham have solar panels?

36,232 homes in Nottingham have had solar panel systems installed, according to the latest government data.

That means 10.1% of the area’s 357,100 households have switched to solar  – which is far more than the national average of 5.7%.

For more information on the popularity of solar panels in different parts of the country, check out our guide to how many homes have solar panels in the UK.

Is Nottingham sunny enough for solar panels?

Nottingham is definitely sunny enough for solar panels – in fact, it gets more sunlight than most of the UK, receiving 1,204 kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) per year – 9% above the national average.

This number will vary slightly depending on where you live, but it’s an excellent indicator.

In the solar industry, quantities of sunlight are tracked via ‘solar irradiance,’ which assesses the sun’s average intensity in a specific place.

It’s measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre – that is, how much energy makes it from the sun, across 93 million miles of space, to any given square metre on Earth.

As you may expect, the more intense the sunlight that hits your panels, the higher the kilowatt-hours per square metre, and the more solar electricity your system will produce – leading to higher savings for you.

Typical solar panel output in Nottingham

These output numbers are all based on a domestic installation in the centre of Nottingham.

We've chosen a 4.5kWp system because it'll generally produce at least enough electricity to match the average UK household's electricity consumption, which is 3,400kWh per year.

When your solar panels generate more electricity than you can use or store in your battery, you can sell this excess energy to the grid via one of the best SEG rates.

While this will happen with almost every UK system during summer, installations in Nottingham should be able to profit from this additional income stream more often.

Please note: you won’t necessarily generate as much solar electricity with your system, since your home will have its own unique characteristics – but it should give you a good idea of what’s possible in Nottingham.

Is it worth getting solar panels in Nottingham?

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

Despite its often cloudy weather, Nottingham receives high levels of solar irradiance – particularly compared to the national average – which means its residents can save hundreds of pounds per year by switching to solar.

There’s a reason why 10.1% of Nottingham’s households have already gone solar – and that percentage is likely to rise in the coming years, as energy bills stay high, and heat pumps and electric vehicles become a common sight across the UK.

If you’d like to go solar 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, which includes 24/7 monitoring, maintenance, a free battery upgrade, a free inverter replacement if necessary, and downtime cover.

We install across Nottingham, 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 Nottingham: FAQs