How to Check the ENA Plug-In Solar Register Before You Buy

Published: 2026-09-16 · Updated: 2026-09-29

Since 27 August 2026 you can legally plug a solar kit into an ordinary socket in Great Britain. The catch sits in the rules behind SI 2026/848. The route only covers a kit that meets DESNZ’s Interim Product Specification, and the specification requires the complete kit to be assessed as compliant on the Energy Networks Association register before it is sold. A kit that is not on that register is not covered, whatever the product page says, and quite a few product pages say otherwise.

The register is public, free, and takes about three minutes to search. Here is how to do it, where to buy a listed kit, and how the register changed in September 2026.

Search the register yourself

Open connect-direct.energynetworks.org and go to the Live Device Register. You do not need an account or a login.

Open Filters and set Type to “Plug-in Solar”. That single filter does most of the work. It separates the plug-in category from every other piece of grid-connected equipment in the database. That is why searching a brand name on its own returns a confusing mix of microinverters, battery systems and full solar installations that have nothing to do with the socket route.

Now read the status on each record. Every entry is either Compliant or Non-compliant. The record also carries a reference code (something like UKSOL/21008/V1/A4), the manufacturer, the rated output and a published date.

Match the model code, not the brand

The register assesses kits, not companies. That distinction catches people out constantly, because several manufacturers have Compliant and Non-compliant records sitting under near-identical product names.

City Plumbing shows why the panel count matters as much as the code. Its one-panel 515 W kit (CITYP/21389/V1) and its two-panel kit (CITYP/21277/V1/A1) both end in the code DME-515W-BW-1 on the register. Only the “CPS 1x” or “CPS 2x” at the start of the record tells them apart. City Plumbing’s own shop sells the two-panel version as “DMEGC 1030W” under the code DME-1030W-BW-1, which appears nowhere on the register. The same goes for its £444 “DMEGC 930W” kit (DME-930W-BW-1 in the shop), which the register lists as “CPS 2x DM465G12RT-G48HBB + Hoymiles HF-800-WB” (CITYP/21096/V1/A4). The one-panel 465 W kit has its own record, CITYP/21388/V1. All of these are Compliant. The point is that you may have to match the panel model and count rather than a code string.

InstaGroup shows the opposite trap: INS-PPG-800 and INS-PPG-435 are Compliant, INS-PPG2-800 is not.

So take the model code off the box or the retailer listing, find the matching record, and check the panel count. If a listing does not publish a model code, treat that as an answer in itself. You can run the string through our kit checker against a dated copy of the register, but the live register is the authority.

Non-compliant is not a safety warning

On this register, Non-compliant is a sub-category of Further Information Required. It means the ENA’s engineers cannot assess the device as compliant at this stage and will review it again once the manufacturer sends what is missing. Nothing about it says the hardware is unsafe.

Records move, and amended records are common: many entries carry an /A1 to /A9 suffix, meaning the manufacturer revised its submission. In the two weeks after 16 September, EcoFlow’s STREAM kit record went from Non-compliant (/A1) to Compliant (/A3). Modular Solar’s two 400 W inverter variants, Non-compliant on 16 September, were Compliant a day later.

That is the reason to search the register yourself rather than trust any list, including this one. The first plug-in solar record still on the register was published on 18 August 2026, and the Type has roughly doubled since mid-September. Any article quoting a kit count is telling you about one particular day.

How the register changed: 16 vs 29 September 2026

We page the whole register and filter on the Plug-in Solar Type. As far as we know, nobody else publishes how the Type changes over time, so we keep each snapshot:

A note on method: the register’s search pages can skip or repeat records at page boundaries. On 29 September we paged it twice, in opposite sort orders, and merged the results, which accounted for all 9,713 devices. The 16 September figures come from a single pass and may undercount slightly.

What the 29 September snapshot held:

Most of the jump in Non-compliant records is one company: Worldwide Solar filed 21 kit variants on 27 September, and all of them were Non-compliant when we pulled the data. Ten of its earlier variants are Compliant.

Four names people search for:

• Octopus Energy. Its record OCTOQ/21124/V1/A5 was published as Compliant on 8 September 2026. It is named after the Fox ESS M1-800-E microinverter that Octopus uses in its one- and two-panel bundles. The record itself does not spell out the panels, so ask Octopus to confirm the reference for the bundle you buy.
• EcoFlow. Compliant since 22 September 2026. ECOFL/21128/V1/A3 covers the STREAM plug-in kits for flat roof, facade and pitched roof, and ECOFL/21606/V1/A1 covers a kit pairing the EF-PS-800 inverter with SPDG505-N108R12 panels.
• Zendure. Six SolarFlow 800 kits were published as Compliant on 21 September 2026. They differ only in brackets and cables, and none of them lists a battery.
• Anker. Still nothing under the Plug-in Solar Type. Its two records, published on 24 September, sit under Energy Storage Device and are Non-compliant, so they do not help anyone using the socket route.

Battery systems stay outside the route

The specification covers panels plus a grid-following microinverter. It explicitly excludes plug-in battery systems and “plug-in solar PV devices integrated with battery systems”. It also requires the instructions to say the device is not intended to be used with a battery. SI 2026/848 matches this: a plug-in microgenerator must not be designed to import electricity for storage. Zendure’s SolarFlow 800 has a port for an add-on battery, but its register records cover the inverter with panels and brackets only. Adding a battery takes the setup outside what was assessed.

Where to buy a listed kit (prices checked 29 Sep 2026)

These are register-listed kits we could actually buy on 29 September 2026. Prices are the sellers’ listed prices that day.

The City Plumbing rows show why model codes need care: the shop code and the register wording differ, so match the panels as well (see Match the model code above). EcoFlow’s STREAM Roof Kit was listed at £549–699 on EcoFlow’s UK shop, but every variant was marked unavailable on 29 September. For more detail on each kit, see our kit comparison.

What a compliant kit has to carry

Five things, all from DESNZ’s Interim Product Specification version 2, published on 16 July 2026:

Output is capped at 800 VA, which is about 3.5 A, with up to 2,000 W of panels behind it. The plug is a factory-fitted, non-rewireable moulded BS 1363 type with a fuse no larger than 5 A and partially insulated pins, so a Schuko plug with a travel adapter fails on its own. The product carries a compliance declaration and a QR code, which gives you a check you can do in a shop: no declaration on the box, no purchase. The complete kit is on the register as Compliant. And it has no battery.

The wiring side rests on BS 7671:2018+A4:2026, which the specification requires the kit to comply with. Amendment 4 was published on 15 April 2026. The previous edition is withdrawn on 15 October 2026, and from then on all new electrical work is done to A4.

After you buy

Buying a verified kit settles the product question and none of the installation ones.

You still notify your distribution network operator under G98 within 28 days of connecting. There is no approval to wait for; it is an after-the-fact form, but it is a legal requirement. G98 Issue 2 Amendment 1 2026 also limits you to one plug-in device per household, so a second kit on a different circuit is out for now.

The socket has to be a normal wall socket on a standard socket circuit. Extension leads, multi-way adaptors, lighting circuits and cooker circuits are all excluded. Timber balconies and timber cladding are barred too, both by the specification and, in England, by SI 2026/896 on planning.

One scope note worth knowing: the plug safety rules are UK-wide, but the electricity safety regulations that make use lawful apply in Great Britain. Northern Ireland sits outside that.

Landlord or freeholder consent is a separate question from all of this, and the electrical rules do not override your lease. Our renters’ guide covers how to ask.

Once you have a shortlist of verified kits, run the numbers on your own balcony and tariff in the payback calculator, and use the legal check to see what applies to your building. Full background on the UK framework is in our 2026 rules guide.

Register figures come from our own pulls of the ENA Connect Direct Type Test Register, filtered to the Plug-in Solar Type: 16 September 2026 (9,584 device records, single pass) and 29 September 2026 (9,713 device records, two passes merged). The register changes weekly, so treat the counts as dated snapshots and check the live register for any kit you are about to buy. Retail prices were checked on the sellers’ own sites on 29 September 2026.

Other sources: SI 2026/848 (Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 and Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 (Amendment) Regulations 2026, in force 27 August 2026); DESNZ Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification v2 (published 16 July 2026); ENA Engineering Recommendation G98 Issue 2 Amendment 1 2026; BS 7671:2018+A4:2026; SI 2026/896.