Solar panels on tilted ballasted frames on a London flat roof

Air conditioning
run on your own solar

Air conditioning run on your own solar panels: one survey, one price, both systems fitted together.

Rated 5.0 on Google

Prefer to talk? 020 3393 1331

Accredited, and fitting the brands you know

NICEIC approved contractorGas Safe RegisterMCS certifiedRECC, Renewable Energy Consumer CodeTrustMark, Government Endorsed QualityVaillantClivetSamsungDaikinMitsubishi ElectricBosch

Both systems in three steps

  1. One survey

    The rooms, the roof and the fuse board, on the same visit.

  2. One price

    Cooling and solar on one written quotation.

  3. Fitted together

    The panels feed the house, and the house is where the cooling is.

What is in the price

  • The air conditioningUnits, 25 metres of pipework and the electrics.
  • The panelsPriced per panel, pitched roof or flat.
  • The inverterString, or hybrid if there is a battery.
  • ScaffoldingIn the figure, not added later.
  • MCS certificateIssued under NIC-601634.
  • A battery, if you want oneIt moves the afternoon into the evening.
Solar panels we fitted on tilt frames on a London flat roof

Your estimate

£3,900to£5,050

Supplied, fitted and commissioned, MCS certified under registration NIC-601634. 0 per cent VAT until 31 March 2027. Scaffolding is included; a roof we can reach safely off a ladder comes in under this.

Price the solar side

Panels, inverter, scaffolding and MCS certification, from our own rate card. The cooling is priced separately.

How big an array?
Add storage?

Last step: what number should we call with your fixed price?

Every figure on this site is an estimate built from the quotations we issued in 2026 and our own installation experience. It is not a quotation. The price you are given after the free survey is the price you pay.

  • Same hourCooling demand and solar peak
  • £2,400From, one room of cooling
  • 0%VAT on the solar side
  • MCSCertified, NIC-601634

Our own jobs, photographed on the day

Finished jobs, photographed on the day. Tap any one for the full story.

All 39 projects
Air source heat pump with roof-mounted solar in Winchmore Hill N21 Heat pump and solar N21 Winchmore Hill Air source heat pump with roof-mounted solar The panels sit across the rear pitch and the heat pump at the side of the house, which is the pairing that lets the pump run on its own generation through the middle of the day. Read the case study Air source heat pump with solar and battery storage in Tottenham N15 Heat pump, solar and battery N15 Tottenham Air source heat pump with solar and battery storage The whole electrical side on one wall: inverter, battery modules and every isolator in reach, with the conduit dressed in straight runs so a fault years from now can be traced without stripping the wall. Read the case study Solar panels on a brick wall and on the roof in Wimbledon SW19 Solar SW19 Wimbledon Solar panels on a brick wall and on the roof Some panels flat against a brick wall on black rails, the rest in a row along the roof slope with bird spikes along the lower edge and every frame bonded to earth. Read the case study Solar panels on ballasted frames, flat roof in Cricklewood NW2 Solar and battery NW2 Cricklewood Solar panels on ballasted frames, flat roof Low-tilt frames standing on the pebble finish of a new-build flat roof and held down by weight, so nothing is fixed through the waterproofing, with a clear strip left along the parapet to walk and work from. Read the case study Roof-mounted solar array in Brentford TW8 Solar TW8 Brentford Roof-mounted solar array Two panels on the slate roof of a single-storey extension, each with its own microinverter, and bird mesh clipped round the edge so nothing can nest underneath. Read the case study Solar panels on ballasted trays, flat roof in Anerley SE20 Solar SE20 Anerley Solar panels on ballasted trays, flat roof Six panels on the flat dormer roof, tilted on weighted trays rather than bolted down, so the roof covering is not pierced anywhere and the array still faces the sun instead of lying flat. Read the case study Vaillant air source heat pump with solar panels and a battery in Finsbury Park N4 Heat pump, solar and battery N4 Finsbury Park Vaillant air source heat pump with solar panels and a battery The panels on the roof run the heat pump through the day and the battery carries it into the evening, so the house buys far less from the grid. The unit sits on raised feet against the rear wall. Read the case study Fox ESS hybrid inverter and CQ7 battery in Cricklewood NW2 Solar and battery NW2 Cricklewood Fox ESS hybrid inverter and CQ7 battery The battery stands outside on the roof terrace on its own paving base, which these IP65 rated LFP modules are built for, with the inverter and the isolator on the wall above it and the cables dropped in one enclosed run. Read the case study Solar panels on a tiled pitched roof in Anerley SE20 Solar SE20 Anerley Solar panels on a tiled pitched roof The rest of the same array on the tiled slope, laid out around the two roof windows rather than over them, so the loft rooms keep their daylight. Read the case study DC cabling in galvanised steel conduit in Anerley SE20 Solar SE20 Anerley DC cabling in galvanised steel conduit The cables from the roof brought down the rendered wall in galvanised steel conduit, clipped in straight runs into a junction box, instead of loose cable tied to the downpipe. Read the case study
The full guide: why the timing works, and what it looks like on a London roof

Yes. A 5 kW living room air conditioner draws about 1.2 kW while it is cooling, and a 5.1 kWp array in London is producing three to four kW on the afternoons you want it. The generation and the demand arrive at the same hour.

Running that unit for 6 hours on a hot day costs about £2 off the grid at 26p per kWh. Off your own roof it costs nothing, and on the days it is not hot the same panels are cutting the rest of the bill.

Why the timing works

This is the whole argument, in one table.

A hot London day, hour by hour
TimeWhat the roof is doingWhat the cooling is doing
9amRamping up, about 1.5 kWOff, or barely on
12pmNear peak, 3 to 4 kWStarting, about 1 kW
2pm to 5pmPeak, 3 to 4 kWPeak, 1 to 2 kW
7pmFalling, under 1 kWStill running
10pmNothingBedroom unit, about 0.6 kW

The two rows in bold are why this pairing is worth doing. Everything from 7pm onwards is the argument for a battery rather than an argument against solar.

What it looks like on a London roof

Most of what we fit is a flat roof on tilted ballasted frames, which needs no penetration of the roof covering at all.

Ballast trays laid out on a flat roof before the panels go on

Ballasted, not bolted

The trays are weighted with sand rather than fixed through the membrane, so the roof warranty is untouched and nothing is drilled.

MPPT meter reading 116.8 watts from a panel during commissioning

Every string tested

Each string is metered at commissioning and the reading goes in your handover pack. A panel that is underperforming on day one is found on day one.

Fox ESS inverter and isolators mounted on a plywood backboard

Hybrid inverter as standard

Specified so a battery can be added later without replacing it. That decision costs a few hundred pounds now and saves well over a thousand later.

Running cooling on your own generation

Can solar panels really run air conditioning?

A 2.5 kW bedroom unit draws about 0.6 kW while it is cooling and a 5 kW living room unit about 1.2 kW. A 5.1 kWp array on a clear June afternoon is producing three to four kW. So yes, comfortably, and with generation left over.

The reason it works so well is timing rather than size. The hottest part of the day is the sunniest part of the day, which means the load and the generation arrive together without any storage at all.

What about the evening, when it is still hot?

That is what a battery is for, and cooling is the load that justifies one fastest. Generation collapses around six in the evening; a west-facing bedroom is still warm at ten.

A 5 kWh battery adds £2,040 to £2,335 and covers roughly four to eight hours of one unit running.

Does it work in winter, when the heating matters?

Less well, and it is worth being straight about that. A London array in December produces perhaps a fifth of what it produces in June, at exactly the time heating demand is highest.

So the honest position is that solar makes cooling nearly free and makes heating cheaper rather than free. Both are worth having; only one of them is a headline.

Do I need a special inverter or a special air conditioner?

No. The panels feed the house's electricity supply and the air conditioning draws from it like anything else. There is no direct connection between them and nothing bespoke to buy.

The one specification decision worth making early is a hybrid inverter rather than a string inverter, so a battery can be added later without replacing it.

One survey, both systems, one price

If you want both, doing them together saves a second set of scaffolding, a second electrical isolation and a second visit. We survey for both at once.

Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 3pm, Sunday closed

What do you need?

Page updated