Plug-in solar panels could save a typical UK household £1,100 over their 15-year lifetime, according to Carbon Brief analysis.
In response to the ongoing energy crisis, the UK government announced on 15 March a package of clean-energy measures to “boost” energy security.
Among these was the introduction of “plug-in” solar panels to the UK, which would be available “within months” at retailers, according to the government.
A cost-benefit analysis by Carbon Brief finds that plug-in solar could provide 400 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity each year, enough to meet 15% of demand for a typical household.
This could save £110 on electricity bills each year, meaning the typical upfront cost of around £500 for an 800-watt (W) system could be paid back within five years, according to the analysis.
Assuming the plug-in system has a 15-year lifespan, total net savings could reach £1,100.
Plug-in panels
Compared to rooftop solar, smaller plug-in solar systems consisting of one to two panels can be easily installed on balconies, in gardens and other outdoor spaces. They can be plugged directly into home sockets without the need for additional wiring, reducing electricity taken from the grid and thereby cutting bills.
Plug-in solar has already taken off in Germany, with official registrations already exceeding 1m installations (the actual number could be up to 4m). Other growing markets include France, Spain, the Netherlands and the US.
Panels could be available in the UK “within months” at retailers, such as Lidl and Sainsbury’s, according to the government. (Many of the products from EcoFlow, one of the main providers of plug-in solar in the UK, are already sold out online.)
The government said it will work with relevant bodies to update electrical regulations to allow the use of plug-in solar. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has advised homes to get their wiring checked before installing.
Costs and benefits
To assess the potential impact of plug-in solar, Carbon Brief conducted a cost-benefit analysis for an 800-watt (W) installation in a typical two-to-three bedroom home in London. The assumptions are approximate and will vary for different locations and set-ups.
Optimally placed panels – south-facing and tilted at around 40 degrees – would generate around 820 kilowatt hours (kWh) each year in London – at a “load factor” of 12% – according to the EU’s PVGIS database.
Actual output is likely to be lower, due to sub-optimal placement – such as vertically on balconies – as well as orientation and shading.
A report by trade body Solar Power Europe noted these factors could cut 30-60% from optimal output. This analysis assumes a 45% reduction from optimal output.
If a household is able to use 90% of the output – typical for such installations – then the panels would provide 400kWh of electricity each year, enough to meet 15% of typical demand.
This will vary on the household usage patterns, but running appliances such as washing machines during peak daylight hours could improve capture rates.
This could save £110 on electricity bills each year, meaning the upfront cost of around £500 could be paid back within 5 years, according to Carbon Brief’s analysis.
Assuming the panels last 15 years, total net savings over their lifetime could reach £1,100.
These savings assume a fixed unit cost of 27p/kWh, based on predictions for July 2026.
If electricity prices surged to 34p/kWh for a prolonged period – as they did during the 2022 gas price crisis – then annual savings could increase to around £140, further reducing the payback time.
If module costs fall over time as more suppliers enter the market, this could reduce the upfront cost and payback time.
If 3m households take up plug-in solar – comparable to Germany’s current deployment – this would generate 1.2 terawatt hours (TWh), less than 1% of UK demand.
While this would not significantly cut UK emissions overall, it could still save the households more than £330m in total and avoid around two tankers’ worth of imported liquified natural gas (LNG) each year, according to Carbon Brief’s analysis.
Unlocking participation
Aside from its economic benefits, plug-in solar could unlock participation in the clean-energy transition for a wider percentage of the population.
For example, renters make up around one-third of UK households and lack control over the installation of rooftop solar and heat pumps. Plug-in solar would enable them to engage in and benefit from clean energy in their homes.
The post Analysis: How ‘plug-in solar’ can save UK homes £1,100 on energy bills appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Analysis: How ‘plug-in solar’ can save UK homes £1,100 on energy bills
Greenland has now marked the 30th consecutive year where it lost more ice than it gained.
This guest post is by:
Dr Martin Stendel, climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), part of the Polar Portal
Prof Ruth Mottram, climate scientist at DMI and honorary professor at Aarhus University
Over the 12-month period to August 2026, the world’s second-largest ice sheet lost around 135bn tonnes of ice.
This major ice loss came as the region experienced a relatively cool start to summer and less surface melt than in previous years.
In other words, it was not an “extreme” year for weather in Greenland – and, yet, the ice sheet ended firmly in the red.
Three decades of continuous ice loss in Greenland is significant, given that scientists typically need 30 years of data to separate the “fingerprint” of human-caused climate change from natural variations in the climate.
In Greenland, the direction of travel has been the same – downward – every single year for 30 years.
These latest figures come as a new report highlights that ice melting processes seen for decades in Greenland are increasingly being replicated in Antarctica.
Greenland, therefore, is not only the largest present-day source of ice-driven sea level rise – but offers a preview of what is in store for the world’s largest ice sheet.
(For our previous analyses of Greenland’s ice cover, see coverage in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015.)
Surface mass balance
One way that scientists track the health of the Greenland ice sheet is by tracking changes to its “surface mass balance”.
This is the difference between ice gains from snowfall and losses from melt at the surface of Greenland’s ice sheet.
Greenland’s annual ice cycle runs from 1 September through to the end of August. The surface mass balance at the end of this period has, to date, always been positive, because the surface accumulates more snow than it loses from melting ice.
The ice sheet typically gains mass during the colder months of autumn, winter and spring. Then, as temperatures increase from around mid-June, the ice sheet begins to lose more ice through surface melt than it gains from snow.
(Greenland also loses ice when icebergs break off – or “calve” – into the sea, as well when the front of glaciers melt when they meet warm sea water. These losses are included in the “total mass balance” – see below.)
Greenland ended 2025-26 with an overall surface mass balance of 519bn tonnes.
This is the sixth highest in a dataset stretching back 46 years and about 178bn tonnes above the 1981-2010 average of roughly 350bn tonnes.
The map below shows the difference between the surface mass balance in 2025-26 and the 1981-2010 average, where blue shows ice gain and red shows ice loss.
The blue lines in the charts below show the surface mass balance throughout 2025-26 for individual days (top) and cumulatively throughout the year (bottom). They highlight how Greenland gained ice between September 2025 and May 2026, before starting to lose ice from June onwards.
Total mass balance
Another way scientists measure the health of the Greenland ice sheet is by looking at its “total mass balance”.
This calculation accounts for ice loss at the surface, as well as the calving of icebergs and the melting of glacier fronts where they meet warm seawater. The latter two components are known as the “marine mass balance”.
It also accounts for a small amount of ice melt at the underside of the ice sheet. This is known as the “basal mass balance”.
In recent decades, Greenland’s total mass balance at the end of the ice cycle year has been negative.
The 12 months to August 2026 were no different. Once all these factors are considered, Greenland lost around 135bn tonnes of ice.
We reached this figure using the same method featured in previous Carbon Brief analyses of Greenland ice cover. This approach is based on an average of three climate models.
However, for the first time, this year’s update includes a separate estimate for Greenland ice loss, based on data from one climate model and automatic weather stations, satellites, GPS data and observations from planes.
This approach estimates that the ice sheet lost an even greater 173bn tonnes of ice over 2025-26.
(Scientific estimates for ice loss in Greenland vary because there is incomplete information about how thick the ice sheet is, how fast it is moving as well as the rate at which it is melting at the surface. Scientists use different approaches for accounting for these uncertainties.)
The chart below shows how Greenland’s total mass balance has changed since 1985, featuring the higher 173bn estimate for the last ice cycle year.
It shows how 2025-26 was the 30th consecutive year of ice loss in Greenland, with 1996 the last year that saw an annual net gain of ice.