Installation & Commissioning

Before we arrive

Two things happen ahead of the installation. The network operator application goes in — G98 notification after the event for smaller systems, G99 approval before installation for larger ones or those with substantial battery capacity — and the scaffold is booked. Where prior approval is needed we build the operator’s response time into the programme, so the date we give you is a date we can keep.

Scaffolding and access

Scaffold goes up a day or so before and comes down a day or so after. We will tell you where it lands, what it means for access and parking, and roughly how long it will be there. It is the part of the job most likely to inconvenience a neighbour, so it is worth a conversation before it appears.

Mounting and panels

Rails are fixed to the rafters through properly flashed penetrations, not to the battens. Panels go on to the layout agreed in your proposal, kept clear of the roof edges. Where bird protection is specified, the mesh goes on at this stage — it is cheap now and awkward later.

If we uncover something unexpected under the tiles — a rafter in poor condition, previous work that was not what it should have been — we stop and tell you before we carry on, rather than covering it with a panel.

Cabling, inverter and battery

DC cable routes are planned rather than improvised, run in conduit where they are exposed and kept away from anything that will chafe them over twenty-five years. The inverter and battery go where they were agreed at survey. Consumer unit work is carried out to the current edition of the wiring regulations, with the correct RCD protection and isolation.

The loft gets left as we found it. That sounds like a small thing until you have had it done badly.

Testing and commissioning

The system is tested and commissioned properly: insulation resistance, polarity, string voltages and currents against the design, earth continuity, RCD operation, inverter start-up and shutdown, and battery charge and discharge behaviour. We register the installation on the MCS database.

Handover

Monitoring is set up on your phone before we leave and we walk you through it — what generation, consumption, charge state and export look like, and what a normal day should resemble so you can spot an abnormal one. We explain the settings we have chosen, including charge and discharge priorities and any time-of-use schedule.

The paperwork you actually need

You receive the MCS certificate, the electrical installation certificate, the network operator paperwork, the equipment datasheets and warranty registrations, and your export application pack. That last one matters: MCS certification of the installation is required to apply for a Smart Export Guarantee tariff, and rates vary considerably between suppliers, so it pays to shop around rather than default to your current one.

Keep the file. A future buyer’s solicitor will ask for it.

Afterwards

Solar needs very little. UK rainfall handles most of the cleaning; the real tasks are keeping the array clear of debris and moss, glancing at the monitoring occasionally so a dropped string does not go unnoticed for a year, and an inverter check every few years. Batteries and inverters carry their own warranty periods, which we register on your behalf.

Send us your annual kWh figure and a photo of the roof and we will tell you what is realistic before anyone visits.

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