Winchester is a more complicated place to install renewables than most of Hampshire. The district has 37 conservation areas, a large stock of listed buildings, and a section where the South Downs National Park Authority — not the city council — decides your application. This page sets out what actually applies to a Winchester property, rather than the generic version.
A south-facing Winchester roof pitched at around 35° generates roughly 1,038 kWh per year for every kWp installed. A typical 4 kWp array comes out at about 4,150 kWh a year.
Winchester sits inland and a little further north than the coastal towns, so it produces around 8–12% less than Chichester or Portsmouth for an identical system. That difference is real and we size systems around it rather than quoting a national average.
Expect roughly 80–85% of the south-facing figure. That sounds like a loss, but a split east/west array spreads generation across the morning and evening instead of peaking at midday, which usually means you use more of it yourself and export less. On the right household it is the better system, not the compromise.
| Town | kWh per kWp / year |
|---|---|
| Chichester | 1,175 |
| Portsmouth | 1,124 |
| Fareham | 1,117 |
| Bournemouth | 1,100 |
| Poole | 1,097 |
| Southampton | 1,080 |
| Salisbury | 1,046 |
| Winchester | 1,038 |
| Andover | 1,037 |
| Basingstoke | 1,031 |
| Guildford | 1,023 |
Source: European Commission PVGIS (v5.2), south-facing, 35° pitch, 14% system losses. Your own figure will differ with shading, pitch, orientation and roof area — the survey gives you a property-specific number, not this one.
This is the part that catches Winchester homeowners out, and it is the reason a quote from an installer who works mainly elsewhere can fall apart at the planning stage.
Hampshire's distribution network operator is SSEN — Southern Electric Power Distribution. Every solar or battery installation has to be registered with them, and which process applies decides whether you wait.
In 2024 around 4.8 million households in Great Britain — 16.0% of homes — were not connected to the gas grid. Around Winchester that is concentrated in exactly the places you would expect: the Meon and Itchen valleys, and the downland parishes where the mains simply never arrived.
If you heat with oil or LPG, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is worth more to you than to a home on mains gas — and the deadline is closer than most people think.
Off-gas-grid figures: House of Commons Library, Households off the gas grid and prices for alternative fuels.
We cover Winchester city, Alresford, Bishops Waltham, Colden Common, the Worthys, the Meon Valley and the surrounding villages. Every installation is MCS accredited.
Aiko ABC panels as standard, sized to your roof and your actual consumption rather than to fill the space. On constrained Winchester roofs — dormers, valleys, conservation-area slopes that have to stay off the street elevation — higher-efficiency panels earn their cost by getting more out of less area.
Solar panels →Grant, Midea and Daikin systems, designed to your property's actual heat loss. Older Winchester housing often needs emitter changes to run at a low flow temperature — we survey for that up front and price it in, rather than leaving you with a heat pump that never quite keeps up.
Heat pumps →Tesla Powerwall 3, Fox ESS and SigenEnergy. Store what your roof makes for the evening, or charge overnight on a cheap-rate tariff and run the house off it through the peak. Sizing depends on your consumption pattern, so we look at your actual usage before recommending a capacity.
Battery storage →Often yes. Inside a conservation area, permitted development rights for solar are restricted: panels on a wall or a roof slope that forms the principal elevation and fronts a highway need a planning application to Winchester City Council. Panels on a rear or side slope that is not highway-facing are usually still permitted development. There are 37 conservation areas in the Winchester district, so this catches more properties than people expect. We check the designation before we quote.
Usually, but listed building consent is required regardless of permitted development rights, and it is assessed separately from planning permission. In practice the workable options are a rear or courtyard-facing slope, an outbuilding or garage roof, or a ground-mounted array screened from view. We have installed on listed properties in and around Winchester and will tell you honestly at survey stage if we think consent is unlikely.
The South Downs National Park Authority, not Winchester City Council. Part of the Winchester district falls inside the National Park boundary, and for those addresses the SDNPA is the local planning authority — you apply to them, and their policies on visual impact in the landscape apply. Winchester City Council publishes an interactive map so you can check your address.
About 1,038 kWh per year for every kWp installed, on a south-facing roof pitched at around 35°, according to the European Commission's PVGIS dataset. A typical 4 kWp array works out at roughly 4,150 kWh a year. Winchester sits inland and slightly north of the coastal towns, so it generates around 8–12% less than Chichester or Portsmouth. East/west split roofs typically produce 80–85% of the south-facing figure, though they often suit self-consumption better because output is spread across the day.
Hampshire's distribution network operator is SSEN (Southern Electric Power Distribution). For systems up to 3.68 kW per phase the G98 process applies and there is no wait — we install, then notify SSEN within 28 days of commissioning. Above that threshold a G99 application must be approved before installation: SSEN carries out a network study and issues a connection quote first. SSEN also requires prior approval where the same installer has connected generation at another property in the same postcode area within the previous 28 days, which is worth knowing if your neighbours are going solar at the same time.
If your home is off the gas grid and currently heated by oil or LPG, yes. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £7,500 towards an air source heat pump, with an extra £1,500 for off-grid homes replacing oil or LPG — up to £9,000 in total, available until March 2027. Many of the villages around Winchester, including the Meon and Itchen valleys and the downland parishes, are off-grid. As an MCS certified installer we make the application ourselves and deduct the grant from your invoice; there is no paperwork for you and no waiting for a refund.
Required to claim the BUS grant and to register for the Smart Export Guarantee. We are also RECC members.
We are based in Eastleigh. Winchester is core territory, not an outer edge of a national coverage map.
Family-run, with directly employed engineers. The people who survey your property are the people who install.
Survey to sign-off in one price, including scaffolding and the grid application. No hidden extras.
We will confirm your conservation area, listing and National Park position, work out what your roof will actually generate, and tell you which grid process applies — before you commit to anything.
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