Yes, you can use a heat pump with solar panels, and the pairing is worth planning properly. Solar can help power a heat pump, but the heat pump will still draw from the grid when the panels are not generating. You export surplus in summer and import at night and in winter, according to the Energy Saving Trust. The saving comes from sizing both systems around your home’s real demand, adding a battery where it earns its place, and choosing the right tariff.
TL;DR
- Solar panels can power any type of heat pump, but in winter, when heating demand peaks, panels produce least, so the grid still supplies most of that demand.
- A typical UK system of about 3.5 kWp can generate enough over a year to balance a typical home’s heat pump use, though every home differs.
- A battery and a time-of-use tariff do much of the heavy lifting: the Energy Saving Trust found combinations could cut bills by around £800 a year.
- Tell every installer your full plans first, so the inverter, consumer unit and supply are sized for the heat pump as well as the panels.
- Check the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant (England and Wales) and Smart Export Guarantee rates before you commit.
Table of Contents
- How a heat pump and solar panels work together
- The winter problem, and why it is manageable
- Is your home suitable?
- Sizing both systems properly
- Does a battery help?
- Tariffs matter as much as hardware
- What does it cost, and what can you save?
- Grants and support
- Getting the installation right
- Get the solar and electrical side planned with us
- FAQ
- Sources
How a heat pump and solar panels work together
A heat pump moves heat from the air, ground or water outside into your home. It runs on electricity, using a compressor and fan (or pump) to do so. Solar panels generate electricity. Put the two together and some of the electricity that drives the heat pump comes from your roof instead of the grid.
There is nothing special about the connection. Solar electricity can drive the fan and compressor of any type of heat pump. Your house runs on one electrical supply, and whatever the panels produce is used first by whatever is running at the time: the heat pump, the fridge, the kettle. Anything left over is stored in a battery, if you have one, or exported to the grid.
The Energy Saving Trust notes that it may be possible to fit a solar system that generates as much electricity in a year as the heat pump uses. The grid is still needed to balance supply and demand. So think of solar as reducing what you buy, not as cutting you off from the grid.
The winter problem, and why it is manageable
The obvious catch is timing. Heating demand peaks on cold, dark days in December and January, when UK solar output is at its lowest. In summer the panels produce plenty and the heat pump is mostly idle, apart from hot water.
That does not make the pairing pointless. It changes what you are aiming for:
- Spring, summer and autumn: panels cover hot water, and much of the shoulder-season heating, plus everything else in the house. Surplus is exported.
- Winter days: panels give a modest contribution, mostly around midday. The heat pump still imports much of what it uses.
- Winter nights: everything comes from the grid, or from a battery charged earlier.
Over a full year, the exports you earn in summer can offset imports in winter. That is the logic behind the Smart Export Guarantee, under which some electricity suppliers must pay eligible small-scale generators for low-carbon electricity they export to the grid. We explain how this works in practice in our guide to solar export payments, and how a system behaves in the cold months in how solar works in winter.
Two habits help in winter. First, run the heat pump steadily at a low flow temperature rather than in short hard bursts, which is how most are designed to work. Second, if your heating schedule is flexible, shift hot water heating to the middle of the day so it uses the panels’ output.
Is your home suitable?
The homes where the combination works best share a few traits:
- A sound roof with decent space, ideally facing south, east or west, and without heavy shading. Our note on how shading affects panel output shows why a single chimney shadow can matter.
- Suitable outdoor space for the heat pump unit (or ground loop, for ground source), with room for airflow and acceptable distance to neighbours.
- Good insulation. Homebuilding lists a sound roof, outdoor space and good insulation as the factors that make a home suitable. A leaky house needs far more heat, so the heat pump draws more electricity and the panels cover a smaller share.
If your home is poorly insulated, fix that first or alongside. It reduces the size of the heat pump you need, which reduces the electricity it uses, which in turn makes every kilowatt hour from your panels go further.
If you live on the south coast, there is a bonus: our piece on why solar suits coastal homes covers the sunshine and conditions we see across Dorset and Hampshire.
Sizing both systems properly
Sizing is where most pairings go right or wrong. The heat pump should be sized to your home’s heat loss, by a qualified installer who calculates it room by room. The solar array should then be sized to your total electricity use, including the heat pump.
Some benchmarks from the sources:
- The average UK domestic solar system is about 3.5 kWp, and the Energy Saving Trust says that should generate enough annually to balance a typical home’s heat pump requirements. Requirements vary between homes.
- Homebuilding gives 2 kW as an example of heat pump size, and says 4 to 5 kW may be needed with poor insulation or extreme temperatures. A professional installer should size to your demand.
Tell everyone the whole plan
A common mistake is buying panels first, then a heat pump two years later, and discovering the inverter or electrical supply was never sized for it. One homeowner thread among the top results puts it simply: make sure installers know your overall plans, and get an inverter large enough to power the whole home including the heat pump.
Before you sign anything, ask each installer:
- Is the inverter sized for the expected load, including the heat pump, and any future EV charger?
- Does the consumer unit have space and capacity, and does the supply need upgrading?
- If I add a battery later, is the system battery-ready, or is it a hybrid inverter now?
- Who handles the grid connection paperwork for the panels?
If an EV charger is also on your list, our guides on pairing an EV charger with solar in Hampshire and EV charger load balancing explain how to stop a heat pump, car and oven tripping your supply at once.
Does a battery help?
A battery stores daytime solar electricity so you can use it later. The Energy Saving Trust confirms stored solar can power a heat pump in the evening, when the panels are not generating. A battery can also charge from the grid on a time-of-use tariff, taking cheap overnight electricity.
That second point matters more for heat pumps than many people expect. The Energy Saving Trust’s view is that batteries are often better paired with heat pumps than with solar panels alone when used with an appropriate tariff: you store cheap off-peak grid electricity and use it for the heat pump and other appliances. In winter, when solar is thin, this is how a battery earns its keep.
Costs to weigh:
- The Energy Saving Trust says a 5 kWh battery costs around £4,600, with a range from £1,500 to £10,000.
- Its storage guidance puts battery systems at around £5,000 to £8,000, so weigh potential savings against installation costs.
How big should it be? Not as big as the brochure suggests. Our guide to sizing a home battery from 12 months of meter data walks through the method, and when a battery can pay back in 8 to 11 years gives the conditions that matter. If you plan to charge off-peak, what an installer checks first and our Octopus Go battery setup article are worth reading.
Using surplus for hot water
If you have a hot water cylinder or thermal store, a solar PV immersion controller can divert excess solar electricity into it. It is a cheaper way to store summer surplus as heat than a battery, though it only serves hot water. Ask your installer whether it suits your cylinder and heat pump setup.
Tariffs matter as much as hardware
The same panels and heat pump can produce very different bills depending on the tariff. The Energy Saving Trust’s research found the largest bill reductions when multiple low-carbon technologies were paired with a suitable time-of-use tariff, and the modelled savings did not rely on households changing their behaviour. It also found that solar savings depend strongly on export tariffs, with the best Smart Export Guarantee rates increasing returns.
In practice:
- Import side: a time-of-use tariff with a cheap overnight window lets a battery (and the heat pump’s pre-heating) run on low-cost electricity.
- Export side: SEG rates vary by supplier. Compare them, and read what a Smart Export Guarantee is and what a solar export meter does before you sign up.
- Control: a smart system that shifts loads to cheap or sunny periods helps. See the role of smart home energy management.
The same sizing logic of balancing solar supply against mains demand applies to smaller loads around a property, as with solar versus mains gate openers: what the panels cannot cover, the mains must.
What does it cost, and what can you save?
Figures from the Energy Saving Trust give a realistic frame. In a semi-detached home, average installation costs are £12,000 for an air source heat pump and £7,600 for solar panels. These exclude potential funding discounts. Add a battery and the total rises accordingly.
| Item | Typical cost (Energy Saving Trust) |
|---|---|
| Air source heat pump, semi-detached home | £12,000 before grants |
| Solar panels, semi-detached home | £7,600 |
| 5 kWh battery | Around £4,600 (range £1,500 to £10,000) |
On savings, the Energy Saving Trust’s analysis says a heat pump, solar panels and battery matched with the right tariff could cut energy bills by around £800 a year, with the best-performing combinations saving £1,000 or more. In the strongest scenarios, heating bills fell by almost 80%. Those are modelled best cases, not guarantees, and your result depends on your home, usage and tariff.
It is also worth knowing that a heat pump is efficient in its own right. At a seasonal performance factor of 3.1, it is around four times as efficient as a typical new gas boiler at 85%, so running costs can be similar to gas at current prices. Solar then pushes your cost per unit of heat down further. For a broader view of bill effects, see how solar reduces household bills and our real battery savings examples.
Grants and support
Support changes, so check the official page before you commit. At the time of writing:
- The £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant helps with heat pumps in England and Wales.
- The Warm Homes Plan says low-income and fuel-poor families will be able to get full government-backed grants for solar panels, battery storage and heat pumps, with solar-and-battery packages worth around £9,000 to £12,000 per home.
- The Smart Export Guarantee pays you for surplus electricity you export.
For what applies to solar specifically, our guide to solar panel grants in the UK is kept up to date.
Our view on pairing solar with a heat pump
We fit solar and battery systems across Dorset, Hampshire and Devon, and the homes that get the most from a heat pump are the ones where the electrics were planned as one system from day one.
Our advice is simple. Do not size the panels for the home you have today if a heat pump is coming. Size the inverter, the consumer unit and the battery for the home you will have in two years. Then pick a tariff that suits how you will actually live.
We work to MCS and NICEIC standards, and we give personalised advice rather than a one-size quote. Whether you already have a heat pump or are about to book one, we will look at your meter data, your roof and your supply, and tell you what fits.
Simon
Getting the installation right
A joined-up project goes more smoothly when you follow a sensible order:
- Reduce heat loss. Insulation and draught-proofing shrink everything that follows.
- Get the heat pump survey and heat loss calculation from a qualified installer.
- Share the result with your solar installer, so the array, inverter and battery are designed around the expected load.
- Check the electrics: the supply, consumer unit and any need for load management.
- Choose tariffs for import and export once you know your likely usage.
- Monitor. Good monitoring shows what is actually happening; see types of solar monitoring systems.
If you want to see how the pieces fit together in real homes, our whole home energy system examples show combinations of solar, battery and EV charging. And once everything is in, keep it healthy: our solar and battery service and maintenance plan costs £175 per year.
Get the solar and electrical side planned with us
If you are in Dorset, Hampshire or Devon and are planning a heat pump, or already have one, we can design the solar and battery side around it, and handle the electrical work that supports it. We will ask about your usage, roof and supply, and give you honest advice on what is worth fitting.
See our solar installations page, or get in touch through Smart Home Technical for a quote.
FAQ
Can you use a heat pump with solar panels?
Yes. Solar electricity can drive the fan and compressor of any type of heat pump. The heat pump will still use grid electricity when the panels are not generating, typically at night and in winter. Over a year, summer exports can offset some of those imports.
Will solar panels run a heat pump in winter?
They will contribute, but not cover it all. Winter output is lowest just when heating demand is highest, so the grid supplies most of the demand. A battery charged on a cheap overnight tariff, or from earlier solar, helps fill the gap.
Do I need a battery with a heat pump and solar?
Not strictly, but it often helps. A battery can store daytime solar for the evening, or cheap off-peak grid electricity for the heat pump. The Energy Saving Trust found the best bill reductions came from combining technologies with a suitable tariff, so it is worth modelling your own usage first.
Can I get a grant for a heat pump and solar panels?
In England and Wales the Boiler Upgrade Scheme offers £7,500 towards a heat pump. Low-income and fuel-poor households may get more support under the Warm Homes Plan. Solar panels themselves generally do not attract the same grant, but you can earn payments through the Smart Export Guarantee.
Should I fit solar or the heat pump first?
Plan both together, even if you install them at different times. Have the heat pump survey done first so you know the load, then size the solar inverter and electrics to match. That avoids replacing equipment later.
Sources
- Your heat pump questions answered by our experts, Energy Saving Trust
- Using ground source heat pumps and solar panels together, Homebuilding
- Energy storage options explained, Energy Saving Trust
- Battery storage, Energy Saving Trust
- How to make renewable technology more affordable, Energy Saving Trust
- Supporting homes with technology-tariff combinations, Energy Saving Trust
- Retrofit explained, Energy Saving Trust
- What the Warm Homes Plan means for you, Energy Saving Trust
- Smart Export Guarantee, Ofgem
