The sequence at a glance
- Survey. The installer looks at the roof, the loft, the consumer unit and where the inverter could go, and asks about your electricity use.
- Planning check for your address. Listed? In one of Chester’s thirteen conservation areas? Which surfaces would carry panels? This decides whether the job is permitted development, needs a council prior-approval decision, or needs an application.
- Design and quote. Panel layout, system size, inverter choice and the MCS performance estimate.
- Grid step. For larger systems, a G99 application to SP Energy Networks before fitting.
- Scaffold. Including a licence if it stands on the pavement.
- Installation day. Mounting, panels, cabling, inverter, isolators, testing.
- Handover. Certificates, the grid notification, and a walk-through.
- Export tariff. You apply to a supplier with your MCS certificate.
1. The survey
A proper survey takes time on the roof as well as in the kitchen. On Chester’s Victorian terraces the surveyor should look at the chimney stacks on the party walls, the state of the slates and the valley between roofs; on semis and detached houses, the orientation of each slope and any trees. Inside, they need to see the consumer unit (fuse box) and decide where the inverter and isolators would sit. They should ask what your bills look like and when you use most electricity, because that shapes the system size and whether a battery makes sense.
If the survey is a fifteen-minute chat followed by a price, ask for a second visit or a second firm.
2. The planning check
This is where Chester differs from most places. The national rules (Part 14 of the permitted development order, as changed on 27 August 2026) let most houses have roof panels without an application, conservation areas included. Three things change that: a listed building, panels on a wall, balcony or railing that fronts a road in a conservation area, and a flat roof in a conservation area, which needs the council to decide on prior approval first. Our conservation area guide has a checker that works out the route.
The installer should state the planning position for your address in writing. If the house might be listed, check the National Heritage List yourself; if it is, the route is planning permission and Listed Building Consent, covered in listed buildings and solar.
3. Design and the MCS estimate
The design turns the roof into a layout: how many panels, where, how far from the ridge and the edges, and how they are wired. Shade from a stack or a neighbour’s extension may call for optimisers or microinverters. The installer must give you a performance estimate in kilowatt-hours a year using the MCS method, which includes a shading allowance. Set it against the PVGIS figures in our roof output estimator for your direction and pitch.
4. The grid step with SP Energy Networks
SP Energy Networks runs Chester’s electricity network (SPEN connections). If the system’s inverter output is up to 3.68 kW on a single-phase supply, the installer fits it and then notifies SP Energy Networks within 28 days. Above that, including solar plus a battery that takes the total over, the installer applies before fitting, and the network operator may approve it as it is, approve it with an export limit, or ask for changes. That approval is the step most likely to add weeks. See grid connection in Chester.
5. Scaffold
Many Chester terraces open straight onto the pavement with no side access, so the scaffold may need to stand on the public footway. That needs a licence from the council as highway authority, which the scaffolding firm normally arranges. Ask whether the price includes it. Scaffold usually goes up a day or two before fitting and comes down soon after.
6. Installation day
On a typical house the fitting takes one or two days: roof hooks or brackets fixed to the rafters through the slates or tiles, rails, panels, cable runs into the loft, the inverter, isolators and a generation meter, then testing. On slate, the installer should replace any slates that break and make the roof weathertight again around each hook. Expect the electricity to be off for a short time while the consumer unit work is done.
7. Handover
Before the installer leaves, they should show you how to read the inverter or the app, where the isolators are and how to switch the system off safely. Within a few weeks you should receive:
- the MCS certificate, from the MCS database;
- an electrical installation certificate;
- the G98 notification or G99 approval from SP Energy Networks;
- warranty documents for panels, inverter and workmanship, and any insurance-backed guarantee policy;
- the manuals and the system layout.
Keep them together. A buyer’s solicitor will ask for them when you sell, and a supplier will ask for the MCS certificate before paying for exports.
8. The export tariff
Exported electricity is paid only if you sign up for an export tariff. Under the Smart Export Guarantee rules, large suppliers must offer one to homes with an MCS-certified system, and you can choose a different supplier for export than for import. You need a smart meter that records exports. Tariffs differ and change, so compare them when your certificate arrives.
Where Chester projects get delayed
- Listed buildings: an application and consent before any work.
- Flat roofs in conservation areas: the council’s prior-approval decision.
- G99 approvals for larger systems or batteries.
- Scaffold licences where the footway is used.
- Roof repairs found on the survey, which should be done before the panels go on.
None of these is a reason not to go ahead; each is a reason to ask early. For costs at each stage see what solar costs in Chester.