The number of Scottish homes with solar panels has almost doubled since before the last gas price crisis started following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and electric heat pumps have been installed at about twice the rate of homes in England. In Aberdeenshire and Stirling, one in ten homes now have solar panels.

New analysis of Microgeneration Certification Scheme data by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has found Scottish homes pulling ahead of England for the first time in recent years in installing solar panels [1]. There are now 20% more solar PV systems on Scottish homes compared to England (52 per 1,000 Scottish households cumulatively vs 44 in England), and this figure has almost doubled since 2019 (23 per 1,000 Scottish households).

Solar is not the only net zero technology that has experienced strong growth. Scotland has installed heat pumps at twice that rate of England (over 17 air source heat pumps per 1,000 households cumulatively in Scotland, around 9 per 1,000 households in England). Deployment in Scotland has accelerated sharply in recent years, rising by more than threefold since 2019, highlighting how quickly net zero heating has increased in popularity in Scottish homes. This prevalence of heat pumps likely reflects the higher number of off-gas grid homes in Scotland, where heat pumps replace oil or biomass systems.

Upticks in solar and heat pumps installations come largely after 2021, coinciding with a spike in public interest during the last energy crisis and support for net zero technologies like the introduction of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.