What Home Energy Scotland funds, and what it does not
In Scotland, public help for a heat pump comes through the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan. Its current offer is a grant of up to £7,500 towards a heat pump, plus an optional loan of up to £7,500 that charges no interest, and an extra £1,500 for homes in qualifying rural and island areas (Home Energy Scotland). Those are Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan amounts, and HES sets the eligibility: the applicant must own the home and live in it as their only or main residence, and the heat pump must provide all of the home's heating and hot water (HES terms and conditions). Solar PV is not part of that offer. For applicants sent a link after 6 June 2024, HES no longer funds solar PV or battery storage at all (HES terms, June 2024).
So the money follows the heat pump, not the panels. A household that can afford solar pays for it in full; there is no grant for solar PV in Scotland for people who can pay. The guide to solar panel grants in Scotland covers the targeted routes that remain for households on low incomes or qualifying benefits.
The rural and island uplift is worth checking if you live outside the towns. HES says it applies to remote rural and island areas, and to rural areas off the gas grid, as defined in the Scottish Government's urban and rural classification, and that it can be added to both the heating and the energy efficiency grants (Home Energy Scotland).
Two things Scotland does not have. There is no Boiler Upgrade Scheme here: it is open to homes in England and Wales only (GOV.UK). And there is no combined "solar and heat pump" package from the Scottish Government. Households who qualify for Warmer Homes Scotland may be offered an air source heat pump through that scheme, and its list of measures includes a home renewables system, but it decides what each home gets and the floor area must be no more than 230 m² (Warmer Homes Scotland).
The winter gap
A heat pump runs on electricity. In a Scottish home, most of that electricity goes on space heating, and space heating is concentrated in the cold months. Panels follow the opposite curve. The table shows PVGIS monthly output per kW of panels at the best angle in Glasgow and Inverness, and what a typical 4.5 kWp system would make each month in Glasgow.
| Month | Glasgow, per kW | Inverness, per kW | Typical 4.5 kWp system, Glasgow |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25 | 20 | 113 |
| February | 42 | 40 | 189 |
| March | 73 | 71 | 329 |
| April | 103 | 99 | 464 |
| May | 114 | 111 | 513 |
| June | 108 | 105 | 486 |
| July | 109 | 105 | 491 |
| August | 96 | 92 | 432 |
| September | 76 | 75 | 342 |
| October | 54 | 52 | 243 |
| November | 35 | 28 | 158 |
| December | 21 | 15 | 95 |
Per-kW figures from PVGIS 5.3 at each place's best panel angle. The last column multiplies Glasgow's figures by the Energy Saving Trust typical system size (our arithmetic).
By our arithmetic, November to February gives a Glasgow roof only 14% of its year, and an Inverness roof 13%. June to August gives Glasgow 37%. A June in Glasgow produces about 5 times as much as a December. For the typical system, that is roughly 486 kWh in June against 95 kWh in December.
The further north you live, the wider the gap. An Inverness roof makes 15 kWh per kW in December and 20 in January, and heating in the Highlands often starts earlier in autumn and runs later into spring than in the central belt. A household in the north should plan on panels covering hot water and mild-weather heating, and on the grid carrying the heat pump through the darkest weeks.
Put plainly, panels will not heat a Scottish home through the winter. On a dark January afternoon the heat pump will draw almost all of its power from the grid, whatever is on the roof. Anyone who suggests panels make a heat pump "run for nothing" in winter is not describing a Scottish home.
What panels can do in a heat pump home
The pairing still has real value, just in different months and for different jobs.
- Hot water all year. A heat pump heats the hot water cylinder in summer as well as winter. From April to September, panels can cover a good share of that on bright days, especially if the heat pump's controls let you schedule the cylinder for the middle of the day.
- The shoulder months. March, April, September and October bring cool days with some heating demand and useful daylight. Glasgow's roof makes 73 kWh per kW in March and 54 in October, enough to cover part of a mild day's heating.
- More of your own output used at home. A heat pump raises a household's total electricity use, so more of what the panels make is used in the house rather than exported. The export payments guide explains what happens to the rest.
- A battery for the evening. Storage can carry spare daytime power into the evening, when the heat pump often works harder. In summer that helps; in midwinter there is little spare power to store. The battery guide covers sizes and prices.
Some heat pump controls can run the heating a little harder while the sun is out, banking warmth in the building fabric before evening. Ask the heat pump designer whether yours can, and whether it suits your home.
Insulation, heat pump or panels: which first?
The order that usually makes sense is fabric first, heating second, generation third. Insulation and draught-proofing reduce the heat the home loses, which lets a smaller heat pump do the job and cuts the winter electricity it needs. Home Energy Scotland's advice service can help you decide what to do first, at no charge.
The heat pump should be designed around the home's measured heat loss, room by room. That design does not depend on the panels, and the panels do not depend on it. In practice the panels can go on before, after or alongside the heat pump.
Roof access is the main reason to time them together. If the roof needs work, or scaffolding is going up for other jobs, adding panels at the same time avoids paying for access twice. If the roof is fine and the budget is tight, putting the heat pump first is usually the better use of a grant, because the grant only applies to it.
If you are interested in solar water heating rather than electricity, HES still offers a loan of up to £5,000 for solar water heating and hybrid PV-T panels, with no grant, to homeowners who meet its terms (Home Energy Scotland). The Home Energy Scotland guide explains that loan.
Practical points for Scottish homes
- Check the electrical supply. A heat pump, an inverter and perhaps a battery all connect to the same supply. Once a battery's inverter is added to the solar inverter, a single-phase home can pass 3.68 kW; past that point the network operator has to approve the connection in advance. The grid connection guide explains G98 and G99.
- Use MCS-certified firms for both. HES funding for a heat pump depends on following its terms, and export tariffs need MCS-certified solar. One firm can do both, or two firms can work side by side; either way, ask who is responsible if the systems do not work well together.
- Think about space. A heat pump needs room for an outdoor unit and usually a hot water cylinder. Panels need a clear, unshaded roof slope. In a terraced street or a tenement both can be tight.
- Rural homes off the gas grid often heat with oil, LPG or electric storage heaters. For them a heat pump replaces fuel deliveries or an older electric system, and they may qualify for the rural and island uplift if they meet the HES conditions.
Before you sign anything, the guide to choosing an installer explains how to compare quotes, and the cost guide shows what Scottish households paid per kW for panels in the latest official data.