Scottish homes net zero tech boom: solar panels and heat pumps surge ahead of England

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 [2].  

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 [3].

Commenting on the analysis, Laura Anderson, Senior Associate at the ECIU said: “Scottish households are voting with their feet, increasingly seeing clean, net zero technologies like solar and electric heat pumps as a way of gaining more energy independence, stabilising bills and shifting dependence away from burning oil and gas. With a second energy crisis in a matter of years now looming over families, there’s clear evidence of interest in electrified technologies ramping up even further, including in electric vehicles with petrol prices so high. 

“Unless households reduce their dependence on gas and petrol, bills will continue to be dictated by foreign actors like Putin and Trump. And with two thirds of Scots believing Britain should not follow Donald Trump’s call to increase oil and gas extraction and instead focus on increasing generation from renewable energy [4], we can probably expect this trend to continue. This in turn will spur growth in Scottish installation supply chains which contains high proportions of  small businesses.”

Ian Rippin, CEO at MCS, the UK’s quality mark for small-scale renewables, said: “It’s great to see an increasing number of Scottish households are investing in small-scale renewables to heat and power their homes.  

  “MCS certification has a key role to play in continuing to drive confidence as volumes rise, by providing assurance that technologies such as solar panels and heat pumps are installed to industry-recognised standards, and are underpinned by strong consumer protection.”

Some areas in Scotland are racing far ahead on solar, particularly the Highlands and Islands and Argyll and Bute, which recorded one of the highest installation rates in the UK in 2025, second only to Ceredigion in Wales, while Dumfries and Galloway also saw more than 20 new solar PV installations per 1,000 households in a single year. Aberdeenshire has built up a large cumulative base of systems, and alongside  Stirling now boasts over 100 solar installations per 1,000 households, making solar an increasingly mainstream feature of the local housing stock.

Similarly, progress on heat pumps is being driven in large part by rural and island communities. Cumulatively, the Hebrides and Orkney now have the highest heat pump installation rates of any local authority areas in Scotland or Wales, with the Hebrides recording over ten times the level of the best‑performing English region. Similarly to with solar, Argyll and Bute and Dumfries and Galloway are also seeing particularly high cumulative uptake.

While there was a slight slow down in heat pumps installations in 2025 compared to the previous year, which may reflect short‑term policy uncertainty and supply‑chain pressures, the annual installation rate is still nearly three times higher than in 2019, when it stood at just 1 per 1,000 households. In 2021, heat pumps as installations in Scotland jumped by 62% in 2021, coinciding with the introduction of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and more interest in technologies that shield households from oil and gas volatility after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Since the Iran war began, it has been reported [5] that Octopus Energy saw heat pump orders in the UK more than double in March 2026 compared to February, with sales of solar up almost 80% and new leases of electric vehicles rising by more than 85%. British Gas has also reported heightened levels of interest, with inquiries about solar panel installations increasing by 250% since the end of February. 

ENDS

Notes

[1] ECIU analysis of MCS data, which has local level installations of a range of technologies. 

[2] Around 20% of Scottish homes are off the gas grid, the highest proportion in GB (16%). Some entire communities such as Shetland and Orkney are 100% off the gas grid, with very high shares (up to around 40%) also in the Highlands, Western Isles and Argyll and Bute. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sub-national-estimates-of-households-not-connected-to-the-gas-network

[3] The Boiler Upgrade Scheme offers up to £7,500 grant funding for heat pumps, and officially launched in May 2022. 

[4] 65% of Scots do not want to follow Trump’s example: https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/britain-should-not-follow-donald-trumps-energy-policy-say-scots

[5] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/11/homes-great-britain-green-energy-fuel-prices

For more information or for interview requests:

George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: 07894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net