FAQs
The practical questions Leeds households ask about solar, from back-to-back roofs to pigeons and the grid. Each answer is short and points to the evidence elsewhere on the site.
Checked 3 November 2026 · Written and published independently by SEO-DONS LTD
Several topics have full pages. For your roof, start with the roof picker and the guides to back-to-backs and terraces and semis; for money, costs and funding; for permission, planning. The glossary explains the terms.
These answers are general. Leeds City Council decides planning, the grant scheme decides eligibility, and only a survey by an MCS-certified installer can say what your roof will take.
A little. On PVGIS figures a south roof at 35° makes 934 kWh a year per kW at Otley and 972 at Wetherby, a spread of a few per cent. The direction of your roof matters far more.
As close to south as your roof allows. In central Leeds a 35° roof makes about 952 kWh a year per kW facing south, 898 south-east, 753 east and 506 north (PVGIS).
Council housing evidence estimates about 19,500 still in use, the largest surviving group in the UK. Each owns only the roof slope over its own front door.
Panels lying flat make about 782 kWh a year per kW in central Leeds; tilting them on a frame gets nearer the best-angle figure of 956, but rows must be spaced so they do not shade each other.
The Energy Saving Trust says 25 years or more for panels, with the inverter usually replaced at around 12 years. Allow for one inverter replacement.
The Energy Saving Trust treats 4.5 kWp as typical for a home. Many Leeds terraces and back-to-backs have room for less, which raises the price per kW.
Usually not; rain does most of it on a pitched roof. Watch for pigeons nesting underneath and moss or leaves from nearby trees. Never climb onto the roof yourself.
Not while covered. Snow tends to slide or melt off a pitched roof within a day or two, and midwinter produces little anyway. Frost does no harm.
Usually nothing directly. Up to 3.68 kW on a single-phase supply the installer connects and notifies within 28 days; above that, the installer applies first.
In 2025/26 Yorkshire and the Humber systems up to 4 kW averaged £1,972 per kW and 4 to 10 kW £1,745 per kW, across 18,822 MCS-certified installations (DESNZ).
Installed solar and home batteries are zero-rated until 31 March 2027. After that date a 5% rate applies.
Plug-in solar kits up to 800 watts became legal on 27 August 2026 and are permitted development except on timber. A lease or tenancy may still rule them out.
The Met Office records 1,525 hours of sunshine a year at Church Fenton, east of the city. Panels also run on daylight through cloud, which is why a south roof in central Leeds still makes about 952 kWh per kW a year.
The council says it is committed to making Leeds carbon neutral by 2030; the West Yorkshire Combined Authority aims for net zero by 2038. Rooftop solar on homes is one small part.
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