- Tenement
- A building of flats sharing a common stair, the classic Scottish urban home. More
- Tenement Management Scheme (TMS)
- The default rules in the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 for maintaining shared parts such as the roof, used where title deeds are silent. More
- Factor
- A property manager appointed by tenement owners to organise repairs and common charges.
- Title deeds
- The documents that set out what you own and any rules on common parts; they override the Act's defaults.
- Class 6HA
- Scotland's permitted-development class for solar on houses and flats, in force from 24 May 2024. More
- Class 6HB
- The permitted-development class for solar on outbuildings such as garages and sheds. More
- Principal elevation
- Usually the front of a building, facing the main road; in conservation areas panels cannot go there under Class 6HA.
- Building warrant
- Scottish approval under building standards for structural and safety work; needed if a roof must be strengthened. More
- Home Energy Scotland (HES)
- The Scottish Government-funded advice service and grant and loan scheme; it stopped funding solar PV in June 2024. More
- Warmer Homes Scotland
- The Scottish Government scheme, delivered by Warmworks, that improves homes of eligible lower-income households. More
- Area Based Scheme (ABS)
- Council-run energy efficiency programmes in areas with high fuel poverty. More
- PV-T
- Hybrid panels that make both electricity and hot water; Home Energy Scotland still offers a loan for them. More
- SP Energy Networks
- The network operator for central and southern Scotland. More
- SSEN
- Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, the network operator for the north of Scotland. More
- G98 and G99
- Connection routes: G98 for small systems up to 16 A per phase (3.68 kW single-phase), connected then notified; G99 for larger ones, agreed first. More
- kW and kWh
- kW is a system's size; kWh is the energy it makes. A kW at the best angle in Edinburgh makes about 908 kWh a year. More
- PVGIS
- The European Commission's solar model, used for every yield figure on this site. More
- MCS
- The Microgeneration Certification Scheme for installers and products; needed for export payments. More
- Smart Export Guarantee (SEG)
- The Great Britain-wide rule that larger suppliers must offer a tariff for exported electricity. More
- World Heritage Site
- A UNESCO-listed place; Class 6HA does not apply to homes inside one, such as Edinburgh's Old and New Towns. More
- Carbon budget
- Scotland's five-year limits on emissions, which replaced annual targets under a 2024 Act.
Glossary
Scottish solar glossary
Solar in Scotland comes with its own vocabulary, from tenement law to Scottish planning classes and two network operators. Here is each term in plain English, with a link to where it matters.
Last checked Independent guide from SEO-DONS LTD
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