This is where the wider, less easily categorised solar stories live — the questions people actually ask down the pub, in comment sections and on forums, rather than the standard “how much does it cost” guides found elsewhere on the site.
Expect myth-busting, UK-specific data, and the occasional uncomfortable truth the sales brochures leave out. We’ve dug into how much solar panels really lose in a UK heatwave (not much), what genuinely happens to a system during a lightning strike or a named storm, and why solar panel theft is rising sharply in some parts of the country and barely registers in others. There’s a running series on real UK homeowner regrets, what to do if your installer goes bust mid-job, and where some of the country’s most surprising buildings — churches, cathedrals, even a Premier League stadium — have quietly gone solar.
Three posts worth starting with. Is Solar Worth It in Cloudy UK? breaks down real generation data: panels keep producing 10–80% of their peak output on an overcast day, worth roughly £500–£900 a year on a typical 4kW system, with payback in 7–10 years. What Happens to Your Panels in a Lightning Strike or Major Storm? finds wind, not lightning, causes most UK solar insurance claims — insurers paid out £585 million in weather damage in 2024 alone. And How Many Days Does a UK Solar Install Actually Take? answers the question almost nobody asks until it’s too late: 1–2 days of actual work on the roof, but 4–8 weeks from first phone call to a live, exporting system.
New posts go up here every few days, covering whatever’s genuinely worth knowing that week rather than sticking to a fixed content calendar. For structured guides on costs, grants or specific property types, use the menu above instead.
Q1. What kind of posts are in the SolarBriton blog?
A. The SolarBriton blog covers wider solar news, myth-busting and UK-specific data that doesn’t fit neatly into our cost, grant or property-type guides — including storm and lightning risk, solar panel theft trends, real homeowner experiences, and how well solar performs in UK weather.
Q2. Is cloudy weather a problem for solar panels in the UK?
A. Not as much as most people assume. UK solar panels typically keep producing 10 to 80% of their peak output on an overcast day, and a typical 4kW system still saves around £500 to £900 a year, with payback in roughly 7 to 10 years, according to our full breakdown on the blog.
Q3. How long does it take to get solar panels installed in the UK?
A.The physical installation usually takes just 1 to 2 days on the roof, but the full process from your first phone call to a live, exporting system typically takes 4 to 8 weeks once scaffolding, DNO approval and MCS paperwork are factored in.
☀️ UK Home Energy · Power Cuts What Happens to Solar Panels During a Power Cut in the UK? The lights go off, the fridge goes quiet — and your shiny roof panels just sit there. Here’s why that happens, whether your battery will save you, and exactly what to do next, in plain English….
⚡ Energy Policy · Updated August 2026 Zonal Electricity Pricing: Why Octopus Wanted Regional Prices, and What It Means for Solar Owners This one ran for three years, got genuinely heated, and then got decided without half the country noticing. Here’s what zonal pricing actually was, why Octopus Energy fought so hard for it, why…
Supply chain & ethics · 2026 China’s Solar Supply Chain and Forced-Labour Import Concerns This isn’t a comfortable subject, but it’s one more UK buyers are asking about, so it deserves a straight answer. Here’s what independently published research has actually found, what the UK government is doing about it right now, and what you…
Landlord Compliance · EPC Reforms Are Landlords About to Be Forced to Fit Solar Under EPC Reforms? 📅 Updated August 2026 ⏱ 9-min read 🏠 Private Rented Sector Are Landlords About to Be Forced to Fit Solar Under EPC Reforms? EPC Band C · Private Rented Sector · 1 October 2030 If you let out…
⚡ Grid & Export Update · 2026 The Grid Is Now Paying People NOT to Use Your Free Solar Power Sounds mad, doesn’t it? But on a growing number of sunny days this year, that’s more or less what’s happening across Great Britain’s electricity grid — and it isn’t a scam, a glitch, or your…
Solar Panel Theft and Vandalism: How Exposed Is Your Investment? Solar crime is genuinely rising in the UK. But before you worry about your own roof, it’s worth knowing exactly who this crime wave is actually targeting — because it very probably isn’t you. Updated 20269 min readUK-wide Same technology, wildly different risk — where…
☀️ Solar Performance · Updated August 2026 Do Solar Panels Lose Efficiency in a UK Heatwave? Short answer: a little, yes. Longer answer: not nearly enough to matter, and 2026 just proved it in the most dramatic way possible. Here’s what’s actually happening on your roof when the mercury climbs, backed by real UK generation…
Solar & UK sunshine data · 2026 The UK’s Sunniest vs Least Sunny Postcodes for Solar I get asked “does my postcode actually get enough sun for solar?” more than almost anything else. So I pulled the official 30-year Met Office sunshine figures and turned them into an actual ranking, postcode by postcode — from…
Updated 12 August 2026 I get this question every time a big storm is forecast. The honest answer surprises most people, it’s rarely the lightning you need to worry about. 55mphOfficial UK insurer storm threshold #1 causeWind is the top solar claim type, not lightning £585mPaid by UK insurers for weather damage, 2024 Wind, not…
Famous UK Landmarks Going Solar: The Full 2026 List UK GUIDE · UPDATED 2026 Famous UK Landmarks That Have Quietly Gone Solar A royal castle, two cathedrals and a Premier League stadium roof — solar panels have turned up in some genuinely surprising places across the UK. Here’s the full, fact-checked list, plus what it…