Solar Panels and Battery Storage: The Home Improvement You Haven’t Thought Of Yet
New kitchen. Loft conversion. Solar panels and a battery.
One of those doesn’t feel like it belongs on the list. It should.
Solar and battery storage is a home improvement – one that cuts your bills, improves your EPC rating, and adds real value when you sell. The difference between it and a kitchen remodel? Solar pays you back while you’re still living there.
The comparison most people don’t make
A kitchen remodel makes your home nicer. A loft conversion adds space. Both are solid investments – but neither one cuts your bills while you’re still living there.
Solar and battery does. Research from Swansea University and the University of Birmingham, analysing over 1.5 million UK property transactions, found that homes with owned solar sold for 6.1% to 7.1% more than comparable properties without. That’s a meaningful resale premium – on top of £1,000+ in annual savings while you’re in the house.
Most home improvements make your home worth more when you sell. Solar makes it worth more and cheaper to run right now. That’s a different category entirely.
What a battery actually changes
Panels alone are useful. Panels with a battery are a different thing entirely.
Without a battery, surplus electricity gets exported to the grid via the Smart Export Guarantee. The rates are modest. With a battery, you store that surplus and use it in the evening, when your panels aren’t generating but your demand is highest.
The result: you buy far less from the grid. Our customers save an average of £1,032 in their first year. Not a projection – actual savings.
Here’s what a battery adds:
- Energy independence: use what you generate, rather than selling it cheap and buying it back expensive
- Evening and overnight cover: your battery charges during the day and powers your home after dark
- Grid protection: if you have a compatible system, you can also charge your battery from the grid at off-peak rates (typically overnight), then use that stored power during peak hours
- Resilience: some systems provide backup power during outages
The battery is what turns solar from a daytime-only benefit into something that works around the clock.
The EPC angle buyers are starting to notice
Your Energy Performance Certificate rating is becoming a selling point in a way it simply wasn’t five years ago.
A typical 4kW solar system moves most homes up one to two EPC bands – often D to C. Nationwide’s research puts that jump at around £14,000 in additional sale value. Buyers and mortgage lenders are paying attention.
In April 2026, RICS made it official. Under their updated ESG valuation standard, registered valuers must now factor solar installations and EPC ratings into formal property valuations. It’s no longer just buyer perception – it’s on paper.
If you’re selling in the next five to ten years, a better EPC isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s increasingly a commercial necessity.
The one thing that matters: own it outright
Everything above – the property premium, the bill savings, the EPC uplift – only applies if you own the system.
Older “rent-a-roof” schemes, where a third party installs panels and keeps the revenue, can complicate a sale. Buyers inherit the lease. Many don’t want to. Some lenders won’t touch it.
An owned system, installed by an MCS-certified installer, transfers cleanly with the property. Keep your installation docs and warranties – buyers’ solicitors will ask for them.
Solar and battery storage does what the best home improvements do: makes your home better to live in now, and more valuable when you sell. Except it also cuts your bills by over £1,000 a year.
Hard to beat.
Thinking about solar and battery for your home? Get a free quote from Project Solar and we’ll design a system around your property and usage.
