By Saif Islam, Senior Consultant at EuPD Research since 2011, who has contributed to most of the company’s PV and energy studies while working closely with installers and major manufacturers. His expertise spans market research, competitive analyses, lead generation, and international consulting projects.
PV installers are one of the most essential parts in the renewable energy industry, as they are the vital link between the industry and the customer. They detect trends ahead of everyone and translate them into practical solutions for homeowners and businesses seeking clean, affordable energy. If convinced of new technologies and services, they play a decisive role in enabling them in their respective markets.
Recognizing their importance, EUPD Research made it their mission to better understand and support these key market intermediaries, and to provide manufacturers and other essential stakeholders with actionable insights. For the past 18 years, EUPD Research has been surveying PV installers on industry trends, procurement strategies, and brand perceptions. The resulting publication, the PV InstallerMonitor | EES InstallerMonitor, has become an indispensable resource for aligning products and services with reals market needs, while also enabling installers to learn from their peers, grow their businesses and expand their client base.
UK PV Market – From Setback to Growth
The latest survey of PV installers in the United Kingdom offers fresh insights into current market demands, and today, EUPD Research is pleased to share some of these findings.
The United Kingdom is one of Europe’s most dynamic PV and storage markets. In 2016, it was the leader in Europe in terms of new installations, but subsequent political decisions (Brexit not even being the most influential) triggered a steep market decline. However, a few years later, the United Kingdom is again at the forefront of PV in Europe, and one of the few major markets expecting growth this year.
Over the last few years, utility-scale and large ground-mounted PV plants have become the dominant PV sector in the United Kingdom. The residential segment, another major PV segment in the UK, has experienced a slight decline in installations in 2024, yet data from the first half of 2025 indicates an upward trend – underlining the importance of small and medium-sized installation companies.
For the 2024/2025 PV InstallerMonitor | EES InstallerMonitor study, EUPD Research interviewed 105 PV installation companies in the UK, ranging from high-volume operators to smaller businesses, including dedicated solar installers, electricians, roofers, and others. While most focus on the residential installations up to 20 kW, a clear trend is emerging toward small commercial projects and larger-scale systems.
Installers as Enablers of Sector Coupling
Over the years, UK PV installers have evolved into key enablers of sector coupling—bringing together the core pillars of the energy transition: energy, heat, and mobility. The latest survey results show that 71 % of installers offer electric mobility solutions to their customers. In comparison to the previous year, the share of installers including heat pumps—a crucial link between renewable electricity and sustainable heating—has jumped from 31 % to 45 %. Smart home applications remain at around 30 % and continue to play a role in energy management offerings.
Interestingly, one of the trends visible throughout most of the surveyed markets also applies for the United Kingdom: installers see the growing demand for storage and self-consumption as the main driver of rooftop PV demand. In other words: whilst storage once “piggy-backed“ on PV, the roles have now reversed, and underscore the growing role of storage solutions in the energy transition. Installers’ portfolios reflect the growing adoption of the storage technology in the UK – particularly in UK homes, as 63 % of the surveyed installers already offer storage in their portfolio, and a further 26 % want to include storage by the end of the year, which equals close to 90 % of the UK installers invested in energy storage.
The diversification is a strong indicator that PV installers are broadening their scope to reach out to a larger target group, and even existing PV customers. Due to the tumultuous market developments, installers are facing various challenges. The majority of the British installers benefitted from the price decline for components, stating that they were able to offer more competitive prices for their customers, and thus increased sales. Merely 7 % claimed that they felt negative impacts through the price decline, as it led to more competition for their business in the market, and a tougher case to justify higher prices for premium products.
Procurement Trends – Wholesale Still Dominant and Steering the UK Brand Landscape
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has always been a strong wholesale market, with the indirect procurement channel playing a dominant role in the supply of modules, inverters, and storage systems. For inverters and storage systems, indirect procurement remains stable at around 80 %. However, the survey results indicate an interesting development in module sourcing: the share of installed capacity procured via wholesalers has fallen from 86 % to 79 % over the past two years, and now stands at 68 %. Segen remains the leading wholesaler by far, and in terms of storage reaches an outstanding 56 % distribution width – meaning that more than half of the British PV installers procure their storage solutions through Britain’s most successful wholesaler.
Brand Landscape – Less Loyalty, More Variety
The United Kingdom has also always been a highly interesting market when it comes to the brand landscape for modules, inverters and storage solutions. While the major Chinese manufacturers dominate the British market similarly to the other markets covered in the study, for inverters and storage solutions some brands have been positioned in the top group (in terms of unaided brand awareness and portfolio presence), that generally are not positioned as favourably in the other countries, e.g. Solis, GivEnergy, Tesla, Enphase and SolaX Power. Given the historical data, it is evident how strong a role British wholesalers play when it comes to brand choice.
However, we have witnessed a waning brand loyalty and a brand diversification among British PV installers. This can be seen by analysing the data over the course of years, and seeing that installers in the UK have been much more prone to include a broad variety of module, inverter and storage brands in their portfolios, and that they do not offer their main brands as exclusively as they used to – the leading brands per technology very rarely reach double digits when it comes to the share of installers offering a brand exclusively (for more than 95 % of their installations). When asked how they incorporate new brands in their portfolio, 69 % of the sample group replied that they do so via their wholesaler and/or distributor.
Looking Ahead
At EUPD Research, we believe that understanding the needs and demands of PV installers, and adapting product and service portfolios to the installers’ requirements, is key in improving one‘s position against the competition. Only if the installers are satisfied with the products and brands they offer, will we be able to take vital steps towards the energy transition, and the PV InstallerMonitor | EES InstallerMonitor is the essential guide to the PV market.
Saif Islam, a Senior Consultant at EUPD Research with over 14 years of experience in building relationships with European PV installers, will be presenting some of these fascinating results on 24 September at Solar & Storage Live in Birmingham. Please go to the website after the show to find out more about the date and location, follow EUPD Research on LinkedIn, connect with the team and go to https://eupd-group.com/ for further information on how to implement market insights into driving the energy transition.
