Plug-in solar panels in Cardiff
Three things change depending on where you live: who you notify, how much the panel actually makes, and who has to say yes first. Here are all three for Cardiff.
In Cardiff you notify National Grid Electricity Distribution
National Grid Electricity Distribution · South Wales licence area
Your network operator is fixed by your postcode. You cannot choose it and switching electricity supplier does not change it. Great Britain is divided into fourteen licence areas, and Cardiff falls in the South Wales licence area.
The South Wales licence area is separate from the South West one across the bridge, even though the same group runs both.
G98 notification is not optional and it is not the same thing as telling your supplier. It is a short form, it is free, and the QR code on your kit links straight to the right one. Do it before you connect, not after.
What 800W realistically makes in South Wales
These are irradiance model figures for 800W of panel, not measurements from a roof down the road. Treat them as a ceiling you will fall short of rather than a target.
790 kWh
Per year, south facing, angled properly on a garden frame or flat roof with nothing shading it.
490 kWh
Per year, mounted flat against a south-facing balcony railing. The convenience costs you output.
25–60%
The share you use as it is generated. The rest goes to the grid for nothing. Being home in the day is worth more than a bigger kit.
Cardiff gets meaningfully more rain than the English average but also more sunshine hours than most of the north. Annual output here is close to London's despite the reputation.
Two panels on one 800VA inverter. The sweet spot for a typical home's background load, and the largest output the rules allow.
Housing stock in Cardiff
Cardiff's terraces in Canton, Roath and Grangetown mostly have rear lanes and small yards, which suits a compact ground frame or a wall-mounted panel above head height. Cardiff Bay is the balcony stock and much of it faces south over the water, which is about as good as UK siting gets.
Wales has its own planning system and permitted development rules differ from England in places. For a freestanding panel in a rear garden this rarely matters, but it is worth a call to the council if the panel would be fixed to the building itself.
Permission questions locally go to Cardiff Council, though for a freestanding panel in a private rear garden you are usually dealing with a lease or a landlord rather than a planning officer.
The national rules apply here as everywhere
800VA cap, one device per household, certified complete kits only, no batteries. Full explainer →
Straight answers
Which DNO do I notify in Cardiff?
National Grid Electricity Distribution, in its South Wales licence area. G98 notification is mandatory before you connect a plug-in solar kit, and it goes to your network operator, not your electricity supplier.
How much electricity will a plug-in solar kit make in Cardiff?
An 800W array in Cardiff models at roughly 790 kWh a year at optimal tilt, or around 490 kWh flat against a vertical balcony rail. You only save money on the share you use as it is generated.
Are the Welsh planning rules different?
Wales runs its own planning system and permitted development rights differ from England in places. For a freestanding panel in a rear garden it rarely bites. If you want to fix the panel to the building itself, ring the council first.
Kits that ship to Cardiff
Every kit is certified as a complete product, ships free, and comes with the G98 notification link for National Grid Electricity Distribution. Use National Grid Electricity Distribution here and it fills in the local operator.
Kits available from 27 August 2026
That is the date SI 2026/848 comes into force and plug-in solar becomes legal to self-install in Great Britain. Certified kits are listed here as soon as they are available.
See all kitsShips to England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland sits outside SI 2026/848, so we cannot supply plug-in kits to NI addresses.