Retailers will tell you plug-in solar became legal across the UK on 27 August 2026. Part of that is true. The part that governs connecting one to your electricity supply is a different document, and it has not been settled for Northern Ireland.
SI 2026/848 came into force on 27 August 2026. Regulations 1 and 2 extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. So the product approval side reaches here.
Regulation 3 of the same instrument, which amends the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002, extends to England and Wales and Scotland only. The department's own impact assessment then says what would have to change: plug-in solar would be lawful to use here only if the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 are reformed too, and that it is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.
Engineering Recommendation G98 applies to Great Britain only. Northern Ireland connection requirements are set out separately under G98/NI, and the network is run by Northern Ireland Electricity Networks, outside the fourteen GB licence areas.
The specification states in a footnote that its application to Northern Ireland "is subject to further consideration and may require amendment". That is DESNZ describing its own document.
Consultation respondents raised the question. The government response records it and acknowledges it without answering it.
Under the Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015, amended in 2023 to expand domestic microgeneration. But the published householder guidance gives no limits and does not mention plug-in solar.
Device records on the ENA Type Test Register carry a G98 standard version for Northern Ireland as well as one for Great Britain, and separate compliance sections for each.
PVGIS puts an ideal roof at Belfast around 714 kWh a year for an 800 W device, which is mid-table for the UK and better than either Scottish figure.
Sell you a kit, or send an electrician to quote for fitting one, while four of those rows say open. If that changes we will change this page and say so. Until then this site is a record, not a shop.
The instrument really was made on a UK-wide basis. It is the second half of the framework that stops at the Irish Sea.
Making a plug-in solar device lawful took two separate things. One was permitting a standard plug to be approved for a generating device, which is a product rule, and that reached Northern Ireland. The other was making the electrical installation and network connection side work, which is the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations and Engineering Recommendation G98.
Regulation 3 of the instrument, the ESQCR amendment, extends to England and Wales and Scotland only. G98 covers Great Britain only. Northern Ireland has its own connection recommendation, G98/NI, and its own network operator in Northern Ireland Electricity Networks.
So a device can be lawfully sold to you and the question of connecting it here can still be unanswered. That is an uncomfortable position and it is the accurate one.
Four open questions. One email each, if and when they are answered.
This is not a mailing list and there is nothing to buy. Three questions on this page are still open. If any of them is answered, whether by the department, by the networks or by a change to the specification, you get one email saying which one and what it now says.