Which kind of shed solar do you need?
Start with what you want the power for, because the three options don't overlap much.
- Light, phone charging, a radio or a laptop in the shed: an off-grid kit. The panel charges a battery and the shed runs from the battery, day or night. Nothing connects to the house.
- Lower electricity bills for the house: a plug-in solar kit, plugged into a mains socket in the shed. It feeds the house wiring while the sun is up. It can't have a battery, so it won't light the shed after dark.
- A proper solar system using the shed roof: panels wired into the house by an electrician, the same as rooftop solar. More power, more cost, and the only one of the three that can earn export payments.
Option 1: an off-grid shed kit
An off-grid kit is a solar panel, a charge controller and a battery, usually running at 12 volts. At the small end it's a single light with its own panel; at the big end, a couple of hundred watts of panels charging a lithium battery, with an inverter if you want a mains-style socket. These are what most people searching for shed solar are after, and they're what the shops sell under that name.
Some examples, at the price each retailer's own listing showed on 30 September 2026:
| Product | What it is | Where | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hubi Work 16 light and power kit | 5 W panel, 12 V hub with built-in battery, one 300 lumen LED strip | B&Q (marketplace seller) | £170.49 |
| Solar shed light, 50 lumen, pull cord | Panel outside, lamp inside on a 3 m lead, built-in battery | B&Q (marketplace seller) | £22.95 |
| Luceco solar batten, 7 W, 1,000 lm | A single rechargeable solar light | Toolstation | £29.99 |
| Renogy 100 W suitcase kit, 20 A PWM controller | Folding panel and controller; no battery | Renogy UK | £139.99 |
| Renogy 200 W kit, Rover 20 A controller | Panels and controller; no battery | Renogy UK | £269.99 |
| Renogy 12.8 V 100 Ah LiFePO4 battery | Battery only, 1.28 kWh nominal | Renogy UK | £179.99 |
| Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 | 1,070 Wh portable power station, panel sold separately | B&Q | £899 |
Renogy's panel kits don't include a battery, so budget for one separately. Amazon UK sells several complete 12 V shed kits too; we don't print Amazon prices because they change by the hour. Screwfix and Toolstation, when we looked, sold solar lights but no panel, controller and battery kit.
How big a kit?
Work out what you'll run, not how big the shed is. A Luceco solar batten is rated 7 W for 1,000 lumens, so a few hours of good light is a few tens of watt-hours. A 13-inch MacBook Air has a 53.8 Wh battery, so a full recharge needs a little more than that once charging losses are counted. A 12.8 V 100 Ah lithium battery holds about 1.28 kWh, which covers lights and laptops comfortably. Heating doesn't fit: an hour of a 2 kW heater uses 2 kWh, more than one and a half times that whole battery. Winter matters too, because the panel makes far less in December, so size the panel for the dark months if you use the shed all year.
Rules for an off-grid kit
Fewer than you might think. Part P of the Building Regulations applies to electrical installations in a building, or in a garden, that take their electricity “from a source located within or shared with a dwelling”. On our reading, a kit whose only source is its own panel and battery doesn't, so Part P doesn't apply, and with no connection to the house or the grid there's no network operator notification either. If you charge the battery from a house socket or tie the kit into the house wiring, both answers change. The panel itself still falls under the planning rules below.
Option 2: a plug-in solar kit in the shed socket
Since 27 August 2026 a verified plug-in solar kit can be plugged into a normal socket in Great Britain, and a socket in the shed can do, as long as it's the right kind. The product specification says a kit may only be connected to a socket circuit, “and not to circuits supplying lighting or other fixed equipment”, and bars extension leads, multi-way adaptors, RCD adaptors and plug converters. The specification never mentions sheds or outbuildings, so this is our reading of it:
- A shed with its own small consumer unit and a socket circuit, fed from the house: the usual way electricians supply an outbuilding. The shed socket circuit is a socket circuit, so a kit can plug into it.
- A shed socket on a fused spur off the house ring: not expressly barred, since the specification only rules out spurs to fixed equipment such as a cooker or boiler. Ask an electrician if you're not sure.
- A shed run from an extension lead or a cable reel: no. That's exactly what the rules forbid, and the kit's own lead can't be run through the garden either, because the instructions must rule out cables laid in the ground.
- A shed with lights only: no. A lighting circuit is excluded.
The usual plug-in rules apply as well. It has to be a kit verified on the ENA register; our certification tracker lists all 84, checked 30 September 2026. It counts toward the one kit a household may connect for now, house and shed together. You notify your network operator under G98 after you switch it on. The specification also tells users to check the installation has modern RCD protection, and outdoor plugs and sockets need a weather rating of at least IP55. Our plug-in solar guide covers all of this in full.
Where the panels can go
This is the catch with sheds. In England, SI 2026 No. 896 says plug-in solar isn't permitted development “where any part of the plug-in solar would be installed on a wooden wall, balcony or enclosure”, and that applies to buildings within the garden of a house, which includes a shed. The product specification separately says installations “shall not be permitted on… timber cladding systems”. A timber shed wall is out on both counts.
The Order doesn't mention roofs, so on its words a plug-in panel on a felted shed roof isn't caught. We wouldn't treat that as a green light. The kit may only be mounted the way its maker's instructions allow, fixings must not compromise the building's weatherproofing, and the Planning Portal's summary of the rule is broader than the Order. If you want a plug-in kit on a shed roof, check the kit's instructions and ask your council first.
The simple answer is a ground frame beside the shed, which is a stand-alone installation with its own limits: up to 4 metres high in most gardens, 2 metres within 5 metres of a boundary, 1 metre if it's also in front of the house, and no more than 9 square metres of panels. A frame also lets you tilt the panels and face them south, which a vertical shed wall can't.
Option 3: roof panels wired into the house
A conventional installation puts panels on the shed roof and connects them to the house through a proper circuit, the same as rooftop solar on a smaller scale. It isn't limited to 800 VA, it can include a battery, and with the right installer paperwork it can earn Smart Export Guarantee payments. The plug-in specification doesn't cover it; BS 7671's own section on solar PV does. Because it involves a new circuit, it's electrician's work, and the timber rule for plug-in kits doesn't apply to it. Our plug-in vs rooftop comparison sets out when the bigger system makes sense.
Planning permission for shed solar in England
A shed counts as a building within the garden, so panels on it are covered by the same permitted development class as panels on the house. Whatever kind of panel it is, the limits are:
- Pitched shed roof: no more than 0.2 metres beyond the roof slope, and no higher than the highest part of the roof.
- Flat shed roof: the highest part no more than 0.6 metres above the roof. On article 2(3) land, which includes conservation areas, you have to ask the council for prior approval first.
- Shed wall: up to 0.4 metres of protrusion, or 0.2 metres where the wall abuts a highway, but not for a plug-in kit on a wooden wall.
- Listed house: not permitted development on the house or on a building in its garden.
- Panels have to be sited, so far as practicable, to minimise their effect on the building's look.
These are the rules as amended on 27 August 2026, and they apply in England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own systems, so ask your council there. Our planning guide has the detail and the sources, and the fence guide covers the stand-alone rules for panels on a garden boundary.
Running mains power to the shed
Options 2 and 3 both need mains power in the shed. In England, installing a new circuit from the consumer unit is notifiable under Part P, so a registered electrician does it or it's notified to building control. Extending an existing circuit out to the shed isn't notifiable in England, though it still has to comply. Wales is stricter: its guidance says additions and alterations outdoors must be notified, so even a spur to the shed counts there. NICEIC's advice is that the usual cable for a shed supply is steel wire armoured. Approved Document P lists sheds among the outbuildings Part P covers when they share the house's electricity.
Which should you choose?
- No power in the shed, and you want light: an off-grid kit. Start small; you can add panel and battery later.
- A shed or garden office with a proper socket circuit, and you want lower bills: a verified plug-in kit on a ground frame beside it, plugged into the shed socket.
- A big, sunny shed roof and money to spend: talk to an installer about a conventional system.
The savings calculator estimates what a plug-in kit would save at your postcode.
Solar for a garden office
A garden office is a shed with a bigger job, and the same three options apply. What changes is the load: a working day means a laptop, a monitor, a router and lights, mostly in daylight, which suits solar well. A 13-inch MacBook Air has a 53.8 Wh battery and a 30 W minimum adapter, and a 7 W LED batten gives 1,000 lumens, so the desk itself is a modest load. Heating is the exception: a 2 kW heater would outrun any off-grid kit a garden could hold.
If the office already has a proper socket circuit from the house, a verified plug-in kit on a ground frame beside it is the cheapest way to cut the bill, since it feeds the whole house wiring while the sun is up. Most garden offices are timber-clad, so the wall is out for a plug-in kit, for the reasons above. If the office has no supply yet, compare the electrician's quote for a new circuit with an off-grid kit or a portable power station before you commit.
Frequently asked questions
Can I put solar panels on my shed?
Yes, and in England it's usually permitted development, but how depends on what you want the power for. For lights and charging in the shed, a small off-grid kit with its own battery is the simple answer. To cut your house electricity bill, you can plug a verified plug-in kit into a mains socket in the shed if the shed has one on a proper socket circuit. For a bigger system, an electrician can wire roof panels into the house.
Can I put a plug-in solar kit on a wooden shed?
Not on the walls. In England, SI 2026 No. 896 takes plug-in solar on "a wooden wall, balcony or enclosure" out of permitted development, and the product specification bars mounting on timber cladding. The Order doesn't mention roofs, but a kit may only be mounted the way its maker's instructions allow, and drilling a felt roof sits badly with the rule that fixings mustn't compromise weatherproofing. The clean answer is a ground frame beside the shed.
Do I need planning permission for solar panels on a shed roof?
In England, usually not. Panels on a pitched shed roof may stand up to 0.2 metres proud of the slope and no higher than the ridge; on a flat roof the highest part may be no more than 0.6 metres above the roof. You need permission if the house is listed, and prior approval for a flat roof on article 2(3) land such as a conservation area. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules.
Can a plug-in solar kit plug into a socket in my shed?
If the shed has a proper socket circuit fed from the house, on our reading of the specification, yes. A kit must go into a wall socket on a socket circuit, never an extension lead or adaptor, and not a lighting circuit or a spur to fixed equipment. A shed powered by an extension lead or a cable reel can't take one. It still counts toward the one kit per household, and you still notify your network operator.
Does an off-grid shed solar kit need building regulations approval?
On our reading, no. Part P applies where a building takes its electricity from a source within or shared with a dwelling. A kit whose only source is its own panel and battery doesn't, and with no connection to the house or the grid there's nothing to notify to the network operator either. Charge it from a house socket or tie it into the house wiring and that changes.
Do I need an electrician to run power to my shed?
For a new circuit from the consumer unit, yes in practice: in England it's notifiable under Part P, so it has to be done by a registered electrician or notified to building control. Extending an existing circuit to the shed isn't notifiable in England, but in Wales anything added outdoors is.
Can solar run a heater in my shed?
Not off-grid. An hour of a 2 kW heater uses 2 kWh, more than one and a half times everything a 12.8 V 100 Ah battery holds. Off-grid kits suit lights, phones, laptops and small tools.