Solar panels on the Wirral
Solar panels on the Wirral make more sense than most people expect: the European Commission's PVGIS model puts a 4 kWp south-facing array in Birkenhead at around 3,850 kWh a year, within a whisker of the city across the river. We survey roofs right across the peninsula, from the terraces of Birkenhead, Tranmere and Wallasey to the bigger houses of Heswall, Caldy and West Kirby, and design the system around what you actually use.
Solar panels in Wirral: what is different here
PVGIS models a 4 kWp array facing due south at a 35-degree pitch in Birkenhead at roughly 3,848 kWh a year: about 501 kWh in May and about 120 kWh in December. The same array facing east comes out near 2,987 kWh, so an east-west terrace roof still produces a useful three-quarters of the south-facing figure.
Inner Wirral — Birkenhead, Tranmere, Rock Ferry, Wallasey — is dense Victorian and Edwardian terracing, and a terrace roof faces whichever way the street runs. On a north-south street that means one morning slope and one afternoon slope, which suits a household that uses most of its electricity before work and in the evening.
Homes facing the water at New Brighton, Meols, Hoylake and West Kirby take the weather straight off the estuaries. Wind loading on the array and its fixings is calculated for the site rather than assumed, and the survey checks how sound the existing slates or tiles are before anything is lifted.
Port Sunlight, Lever Brothers' model village, is a conservation area in which many of the cottages are themselves listed. In any conservation area, panels cannot go on a wall fronting a highway under permitted development, and a listed building needs listed building consent from Wirral Council before panels go anywhere on it.
The larger detached houses of Caldy, Heswall and West Kirby often have the roof for a big array. Above 3.68 kW per phase of total generation, solar inverter and any battery inverter counted together, the network operator has to approve the connection in advance under G99. SP Energy Networks is the operator for the Wirral, and the application is part of the job.
Wirral Council declared a climate emergency on 15 July 2019, and the Cool Wirral partnership is working to a borough-wide net zero target of 2041. Generating your own electricity is one of the few steps a household can take without changing how the house is heated.
What a Wirral roof can realistically generate
Solar output is set by sunlight, orientation, pitch and shade, and on the Wirral the sunlight part is better than its reputation. The PVGIS figure of around 3,850 kWh a year for 4 kWp in Birkenhead is close to Liverpool's 3,869 kWh, and a household using 3,000 to 3,500 kWh a year would see a meaningful share of that come off its bill. The catch is seasonal rather than geographical: output in December is under a quarter of May's. That is why we model your roof month by month and put the modelled annual figure in writing, with the assumptions behind it, rather than quoting a single headline number. The method and the wider picture are on our main solar PV page.
Terraces, semis and the big houses out west
The Wirral is three or four different housing markets in one peninsula, and the roof decides the design. A Birkenhead or Wallasey terrace has a modest roof that usually suits six to ten panels split across two slopes, with a chimney stack and a neighbour's dormer to design around. The 1930s semis of Bebington, Upton and Greasby often have a clean hipped or gabled slope at a pitch close to ideal. The detached houses of Heswall and Caldy can take a larger array, which is where the G99 application to SP Energy Networks comes in and where a battery starts to earn its place. On every roof, shading is measured rather than guessed, because a shaded panel on a plain string inverter drags down the whole string.
Storing it for the evening
Without a battery, most households use somewhere around a third to a half of what their panels make, because generation peaks in the middle of the day. A correctly sized battery moves that much higher and can charge from a cheap overnight tariff through the winter months when the panels are contributing little. We fit the Fox ESS range, and our battery storage page sets out how sizing works. Domestic batteries and solar installations both carry 0 per cent VAT until 31 March 2027.
Gas boiler, heat pump, or both
Panels make electricity, so on their own they do nothing for a gas bill. If your hot water comes from a cylinder, a diverter can push surplus generation into the immersion element. If you are thinking about an air source heat pump in the next few years, solar pairs well with it, because the heat pump turns each unit of electricity into roughly three of heat. We also install and service boilers across the peninsula, so the advice is not tilted towards one technology; our Wirral area guide covers the heating side.
Recent solar installs, from the air
Liverpool Heating solar jobs filmed by drone this summer. Real roofs, real panels, no stock photos.
Read about the four jobs →
Common questions
Is solar worth it on the Wirral, given the weather?
The modelled numbers say yes for most suitable roofs. PVGIS puts 4 kWp facing south in Birkenhead at around 3,850 kWh a year, close to Liverpool and not far behind much of southern England once losses are included. What decides whether it is worth it for you is how much of that you use yourself, the roof's orientation and shading, and whether you add a battery. We give you the modelled figure for your own roof in writing.
I live in Port Sunlight. Can I have solar panels?
Possibly, but it needs checking first. Port Sunlight is a conservation area and many of its cottages are listed. On a listed building you need listed building consent from Wirral Council before fitting panels anywhere, and in a conservation area panels cannot go on a wall fronting a highway under permitted development. We check the property's status before quoting rather than after.
Will my seafront house in West Kirby or Hoylake need anything different?
Exposed coastal roofs need the wind loading calculated for the site and the mounting chosen to suit it, and the existing roof covering has to be sound enough to take the fixings. None of that rules solar out; it is part of the survey, and it is why we look at the roof before we quote.
A free solar survey for your Wirral home
Your roof measured, the output modelled and the price in writing. No pressure.
Also in Wirral: boiler installation, boiler service & repair. Solar panels elsewhere: Warrington, St Helens, Southport and Liverpool.