Record installations of solar panels, batteries and heat pumps so far in 2025
Data from MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme), the quality mark for small-scale renewables, found there were more than 172,000 certified installations between January and June this year.
That is up 37% from the same period in 2024 and a third above the previous record high start to the year, in 2023, the figures show.
The MCS said the jump in installations was being driven by three technologies: solar panels, electric heat pumps and battery storage.
The top technology is solar panels, with 123,000 certified installations in the first six months of 2025 – a record that breaks the previous January-to-June high set in 2012.
There were more than 18,000 installations of batteries, which can allow households to capture excess power from solar panels or charge up from the grid when electricity is cheap and then use it at more expensive peak times to cut bills.
The figure is more than double the near 8,000 batteries installed in the same period in 2024, the MCS said.
Meanwhile, certified installations of highly efficient heat pumps, which run on electricity to draw heat from the air or ground to warm homes and heat water, reached 30,000 in the first half of the year, up 12% on the first half of 2024.
The figures also show that there were almost 50,000 renewable installations on newbuild properties, accounting for 28% of the total for the year so far, and significantly up on the first half of 2024, when they made up 21% of the 125,000 installations overall.
The MCS said that, with the Future Homes Standard set to mandate solar panels and low carbon heating in newbuild homes from 2027, there was massive potential for growth in the low carbon tech industry as the Government attempts to boost house building.
And the organisation said one of the key drivers behind the increasing number of renewable installations was government financial support, through schemes such as the £7,500 grant for new heat pumps to replace boilers in homes.
The latest available figures from January to March show that about three quarters of heat pump installations were wholly or partially supported with government funding.
Ian Rippin, chief executive at MCS, said: 'Across all renewable technologies, we are seeing a dramatic rise in the number of installations being delivered into homes, helping to reduce energy bills for consumers and drive down emissions.
'Crucially, there are also more MCS certified installers than ever before, which means a growing capacity to deliver high-quality installations at volume into people's homes.'
Miatta Fahnbulleh, minister for energy consumers, said: ' People can save hundreds of pounds off their energy bills when installing renewable and low-carbon technologies like solar panels, heat pumps and batteries.
'So, it is no wonder that installations in the first six months of 2025 have broken records, as households recognise it just makes financial sense.'
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