Quick answer: Solar panels can’t run a heat pump through a Scottish winter on their own. There simply isn’t enough daylight in December and January, which is exactly when your heat pump works hardest. What a heat pump and solar panels together do very well is cut the heat pump’s running cost through spring, summer and autumn, especially for hot water. Add a battery and a smart time-of-use tariff and you stretch those savings into the darker months too.
I get asked about this pairing on almost every survey now. People have read that solar can “power” a heat pump and want to know if it’s true for a stone-built house in Musselburgh or a semi in Livingston. The honest answer is yes, partly, and the “partly” is worth understanding before you spend any money.
A quick note before we start. If you’re still deciding whether a heat pump or solar panels should come first, that’s covered in a separate guide. This post assumes you want both and are wondering how well they work as a team.
Can solar panels power a heat pump?
Solar panels can power a heat pump for part of the year, but not all of it. On a bright day from April to September, a typical home solar array will produce more than enough electricity to cover your heat pump’s hot water and the small amount of heating it does. From November to February, solar covers only a small slice of what the heat pump needs, and most of that has to come from the grid.
There’s no special wiring between the two. Your panels feed electricity into the house through an inverter, and whatever is running at that moment, including your air source heat pump, uses it first. Any surplus goes to a battery or out to the grid.
That’s also why this is different from a solar-assisted heat pump, which is a different technology that uses solar collectors as the heat source itself. With an ordinary air source heat pump and solar panels, the two are separate systems sharing one electricity supply.
How much of a heat pump’s electricity can solar cover in each season?
In a typical Scottish home, solar can cover most of a heat pump’s summer electricity, a fair share in spring and autumn, and very little in winter. The table below shows why. It sets the monthly output of a 4kWp solar array against the monthly electricity use of a heat pump in an example three-bed house.
The solar column comes from the EU’s PVGIS solar model (SARAH2 data, 14% system losses) for a site near the Scottish border at a shallow 15° pitch, scaled to 4kWp. That’s a fair stand-in for central Scotland; a south-facing Edinburgh or Fife roof at a steeper pitch will be in the same ballpark. The heat pump column is our own illustrative example: a home needing about 12,000kWh of heat a year, a heat pump with a seasonal efficiency of around 3, and hot water spread evenly through the year. Your figures will differ, so please treat this as a picture of the pattern rather than a prediction.
| Month | 4kWp solar output (approx. kWh) | Example heat pump use (approx. kWh) | How much solar can help |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70 | 570 | Very little |
| February | 135 | 510 | A little |
| March | 260 | 480 | Some, on bright days |
| April | 395 | 355 | A good share |
| May | 465 | 230 | Most daytime running |
| June | 440 | 135 | Nearly all hot water |
| July | 440 | 105 | Nearly all hot water |
| August | 370 | 105 | Nearly all hot water |
| September | 280 | 170 | Most daytime running |
| October | 165 | 325 | Some |
| November | 95 | 480 | A little |
| December | 60 | 540 | Very little |
| Year | about 3,170 | about 4,000 |
Look at the yearly totals and it seems solar could cover around three-quarters of the heat pump. It can’t, and the months tell you why. December to February produce only around 8% of the year’s solar, while the heat pump uses roughly 40% of its annual electricity in those same three months. In summer it’s the other way round: lots of solar, very little heating.
Timing within the day matters too. Even in winter, a heat pump does a lot of its work early in the morning and in the evening, when the panels produce nothing. In summer, the clever move is to set the hot water cycle for the middle of the day. I set this up wherever I can, and it means the cylinder is heated almost entirely by the roof from late spring to early autumn.
One small engineer’s tip here. Many solar homes have a diverter that sends spare power to the immersion heater. With a heat pump, it’s usually better to let the heat pump heat the water at midday, because it turns each unit of electricity into roughly two to three units of heat, while an immersion turns one into one. A diverter can still mop up whatever surplus is left after that.
If you want to see what a heat pump costs to run before solar comes into it, our guide to heat pump running costs in Scotland walks through it. On the current Ofgem price cap (1 October to 31 December 2026) electricity is around 26p per kWh, so every unit of solar your heat pump uses instead of the grid is worth roughly that much.
Does adding a battery help a heat pump and solar panels work together?
Yes, and in winter the battery often does more for your heat pump than the panels do. A battery stores spare daytime solar for the evening, but it can also charge from the grid overnight on a cheap off-peak rate and then run the heat pump through the expensive peak hours.
The Energy Saving Trust makes this point directly in its battery storage advice: a battery saves you more money when it’s running a heat pump than when it’s only storing solar to export.
The Energy Saving Trust’s research, published in summer 2026 and based on real data from 546 homes, found that homes combining a heat pump, solar and a battery cut their bills by around £800 a year, with the best combinations saving around £1,000 or more. It also found that tariff choice made a major difference, and that a heat pump on a standard flat tariff can cost as much to run as a gas boiler. So the tariff isn’t an optional extra. Have a look at our guide to the best heat pump tariffs before you sign up to anything.
We’re a Duracell Energy Platinum Partner, and the very popular Duracell Dura5 home battery is modular, so you can start with one unit and add more if your needs grow. If batteries are new to you, our beginner’s guide to solar battery storage covers the basics.
What does it cost to install an air source heat pump and solar panels together?
The cost of an air source heat pump and solar panels together is typically somewhere in the low-to-mid teens of thousands of pounds once the Home Energy Scotland grant has come off the heat pump, and more if you add a battery. Here’s a rough breakdown using published averages.
| Item | Typical cost | Source of figure |
|---|---|---|
| Air source heat pump (installed) | Around £11,700 on average | Energy Saving Trust, 2026 |
| Home Energy Scotland grant | Up to £7,500 off (£9,000 for eligible rural and island homes) | Home Energy Scotland |
| Solar PV, around 4kWp | Around £6,500 | Home Energy Scotland |
| Battery, around 5kWh | Around £4,600 (range roughly £1,500 to £10,000 by size) | Energy Saving Trust |
| Example total with battery, after grant | Around £15,000 | Illustrative only |
These are typical figures, not quotes. Your price depends on heat pump size, the cylinder, any radiator upgrades, roof access and battery size, and we fix it after a survey. Our guide to how much a heat pump costs goes into the heat pump side in more detail.
VAT is currently 0% on the installation of solar panels and heat pumps in homes in Great Britain until 31 March 2027, when it is due to go to 5%. Home batteries have also qualified for the zero rate since February 2024.
What funding is available for each part?
The funding picture is different for each technology, and this catches a lot of people out.
- Heat pump: the Home Energy Scotland grant gives up to £7,500, plus a £1,500 uplift for eligible rural and island homes, with an optional interest-free loan of up to £7,500 on top. You must get a written offer before any work starts, and both the installer and the product must be MCS certified. Our Home Energy Scotland grant and loan guide explains the steps.
- Standard solar panels and batteries: these are not listed in the Home Energy Scotland grant and loan funding table. The only solar option it funds is hybrid PV-T (panels that make both electricity and hot water), and that’s a loan of up to £5,000, not a grant.
- Warm Homes Loan Scheme: this new UK Government scheme offers low and zero-interest loans across the UK, including Scotland. It covers an air-to-water heat pump up to £20,000, solar up to £15,000 and a battery up to £15,000, with some loans running up to 30 years, and it can be combined with Home Energy Scotland grants. The Edinburgh Boiler Company is part of the scheme, and you can read more in our Warm Homes Loan Scheme guide.
For a full rundown of solar-specific options, see our solar panel funding page.
Is it better to install both at once or add solar later?
If you can, installing both at once usually works out simpler and a bit cheaper, but adding solar later is perfectly fine. Neither system depends on the other to work.
The case for doing both together:
- One survey, one design. We can size the heat pump, the cylinder and the solar array as one system, and plan the hot water timings around your roof’s output from day one.
- One lot of disruption. Scaffolding, electrical work and any consumer unit upgrade happen once instead of twice.
- Battery planning. If you think you’ll want a battery, choosing the inverter with that in mind now saves swapping parts later.
- Funding in one go. You can line up the Home Energy Scotland grant for the heat pump and a Warm Homes loan for the rest at the same time. Just remember the grant offer must be in writing before the heat pump work starts.
Adding solar later is mostly about budget, as a heat pump on a good tariff saves money on its own. If you go this way, tell us at your heat pump survey so we can leave room for a future battery and keep pipework clear of where cables will later run.
Across Edinburgh, Dalkeith, Falkirk, Dunfermline, Perth and the Borders we see both approaches. Older stone-built homes and tenements sometimes need extra thought on roof access and battery position, so a proper survey is worth having.
Can I earn money from the Smart Export Guarantee with a heat pump?
Yes. Whatever solar your home doesn’t use or store can be sold to the grid under the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG). According to Ofgem, SEG covers solar PV installations in Great Britain up to 5MW, and payments are based on your export meter readings.
Each energy supplier sets its own SEG rate and terms, and Ofgem’s rules say the rate must always be above zero. Rates vary, so shop around. With a heat pump you’ll export less, which is no bad thing, because using your own solar usually saves more per unit than exporting it earns.
Heat pump and solar panels FAQs
Can solar panels run a heat pump in winter?
Not on their own. In our example, a 4kWp array produces around 60 to 135kWh a month from December to February, while the heat pump uses roughly four to nine times that. A battery charged on a cheap overnight tariff does more for your winter running costs than the panels do.
How many solar panels do I need to run a heat pump?
The average solar array in Scotland is around 4kWp, according to Home Energy Scotland, which is about nine or ten modern panels. That’s usually enough to cover the heat pump’s hot water from late spring to early autumn. No sensible roof size will cover a Scottish winter in full, so it’s better to size the array for your roof and budget than to chase 100%.
Is it worth adding a battery to a heat pump and solar panels?
For many homes, yes. The Energy Saving Trust says a battery saves more when it’s running a heat pump, and its 2026 research found homes with a heat pump, solar and a battery saved around £800 a year on bills.
Can I get a grant for solar panels in Scotland?
Not through the main Home Energy Scotland grant. Standard solar PV and batteries aren’t in its funding table; only PV-T panels are, as a loan. The Warm Homes Loan Scheme does cover solar up to £15,000 and batteries up to £15,000 as low or zero-interest loans.
Do I need a smart tariff with a heat pump and solar panels?
It makes a big difference. Energy Saving Trust research found that a heat pump on a standard flat tariff can cost about the same to run as a gas boiler, while the right heat pump or time-of-use tariff brings real savings, and more again with a battery.
Will solar panels affect my Home Energy Scotland heat pump grant?
No. The grant is for the heat pump, which must provide all your heating and hot water and be installed by an MCS-certified installer. Solar panels don’t change your eligibility, but you still need the written grant offer before any heat pump work begins.
Get a quote for a heat pump and solar panels
We’re one of Scotland’s leading MCS-certified heat pump installers, and we install solar panels and Duracell batteries too, so we can design the whole system as one and handle the paperwork for your Home Energy Scotland grant and Warm Homes loan. Have a look at our heat pump and renewable installation packages, get a solar quote, or book a free heat pump survey and we’ll give you a fixed price for the lot. If you’d like to start with the heat pump on its own, our heat pump installation team will be happy to help.
