If you’re lucky enough to live among Devon’s rolling hills and Jurassic Coast and you’re looking to cut your electricity bills, solar panels could be the best way forward.

From Welcombe in the west to All Saints in the east, this county receives more sunlight than almost any other in the UK, which gives residents with solar panels a massive advantage.

In this guide, we’ll explain how much solar panels cost in Devon, how the area’s excellent weather affects savings, and which grants can help you cut the upfront cost.

At Sunsave we install across the whole of Devon – so if you’re wondering how much you could save with a solar & battery system, enter a few details below and we’ll provide an estimate.

What are the best solar panel installers in Devon?

1. Sunsave

At Sunsave, our mission is to make solar accessible to all UK households, which is why we offer the UK’s first solar subscription service.

We install across England, Scotland, and Wales – and that includes Devon.

Sunsave Plus allows you to start saving on your energy bills immediately, without having to pay anything upfront.

You’ll get the best-in-class kit installed on your roof, access to the best export tariffs, and the 20-year Sunsave Guarantee, which includes 24/7 monitoring, maintenance, a free battery upgrade and replacement inverter if necessary, and downtime cover – all for a fixed monthly fee.

Your system will also be insured by Aviva against damage, fire, and theft.

2. SunGift Solar

Since 2007, when the solar revolution had barely begun in the UK, this Exeter-based business has grown through word of mouth into one of the best, most popular installers in the area.

The company, which has designed and installed thousands of solar panel systems, is a Which? Trusted Trader and won Regional Solar PV Installer of the Year at the 2024 Energy Efficiency Awards.

It puts its success down to recognising that no two customers are the same, explaining on its website: "We don’t cut corners and each of our systems is designed to fit your individual needs and requirements."

And SunGift's founder, Gabriel Wondrausch, said: "Our ethos and approach has always been the same: to do all we can to ensure our customers have the best possible experience of renewable energy."

3. Quanta Renewables

In Perkin's Village just outside Exeter, surrounded by greenery, a turkey farm, and a fire extinguisher company, Quanta Renewables has quietly been making waves.

Reviewers agree that the team is knowledgeable, communicative, and tidy.

They supply and install gear that includes the Tesla Powerwall 3, and are very discerning when it comes to solar panels.

On its website, the installer says: "We supply carefully selected solar panels that aren’t always available through mainstream distributors, focusing on performance, reliability, and suitability for real-world installations."

As well as solar & battery systems, the company also installs EV chargers and sells various off-grid systems.

How much do solar panels cost in Devon?

A 4.5kWp solar & battery system costs around £11,307 to buy and install in Devon.

This includes 10 solar panels with a 450-watt peak power rating, and a 5kWh battery.

We've also added the cost of getting a 5kWh battery, because this can hugely boost your returns.

A battery allows you to use more solar-generated electricity at home – known as self-consumption – which allows you to buy less electricity from the grid.

You can also join the best export tariffs and time-of-use import tariffs, and join grid flexibility services like virtual power plants.

About 94% of new solar panel installations in the UK include a battery, according to data from Flexi-Orb and the EPVS.

Multiple factors could lead to you paying a different amount for a solar panel system, like its size, the installation’s complexity, and the installer you choose.

To read about everything else you need to know, check out our guide to solar panel costs.

At Sunsave, we install across the whole of Devon – so if you’re wondering how much you could save with a solar & battery system, enter a few details below and we’ll provide an estimate.

Are there any grants for solar panels in Devon?

There are grants for solar panels available in Devon, thanks to local initiatives and national government schemes.

If you’re not eligible for any of these programmes, but still can’t afford the price of solar panels, have a look at Sunsave Plus, which is available at no upfront cost.

For fixed monthly payments over 20 years, you’ll receive the best-in-class kit, full monitoring and maintenance support, and a system that can save you money from day one.

To see which schemes you might qualify for, use our grant eligibility checker.

Solar Together Devon

Solar Together is an initiative that helps residents in a specific area secure a sizable discount on their solar installations through collective buying.

It's not a government grant; it's a scheme run by a private, for-profit Dutch corporation, in collaboration with local authorities.

When the initiative ran in Devon in 2020, 535 homes signed up and around 7,000 solar panels were installed.

You can take part in Solar Together if you’re a homeowner, small or medium-sized business owner, or tenant – as long as you have your landlord's permission.

It only runs for a limited amount of time in each area, so if you’re interested, sign up for free before it ends.

However, there are significant disadvantages to Solar Together.

Despite the discount, it still comes with a high upfront cost, and since the process is collective, it takes a long time to get to your installation day.

There's also a lack of post-installation support, which means that if something goes wrong with your system or monitoring app, you may have no-one to turn to.

For more information, read our in-depth guide to Solar Together.

Warm Up Grant

This local scheme offers top-up payments worth as much as £3,000 to households that have received funding through the government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) scheme (more on that below).

So if you get an ECO4 grant that doesn’t cover the entire cost of a home improvement – like solar panels – you may be able to fund the rest with a Warm Up Grant.

Local authorities are also now permitted to use Warm Up Grant funding on energy efficiency measures outside of ECO4's remit.

So when ECO4 ends in December 2026, the Warm Up Grant is set to continue without interruption.

The scheme is available to residents throughout the county, including in Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, and West Devon.

Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund

This UK government initiative hands funding to local councils that they can use to improve the energy efficiency of social homes in their area, including measures like solar panels and insulation.

The government renamed the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF) in September 2024.

Since it began in October 2020, the scheme – in both guises – has awarded more than £1 billion of funding.

In 2024, the government handed £1.87 million to East Devon District Council, in addition to the £600,000 the council received in 2023.

And other Devon residents have benefited from Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund grants. Plymouth City Council collected a total of £8.1 million in 2022 and 2023, while Exeter City Council received £1.5 million in 2023.

Between August 2021 and January 2026, local authorities in Devon used their grants to carry out 2,503 measures across 653 households.

It’s not clear how many of these measures were solar panel installations, but they make up about 10% of all installations across the country.

You can’t apply to the scheme, but if you live in one of the councils that's received funding, you can contact your local council to advocate for your social housing to be included in any measures.

Lendology loans

Local authorities all over Devon, including East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge, and West Devon, have partnered with not-for-profit lender Lendology to offer loans for home improvements, including solar panels.

Homeowners and private landlords can borrow up to £20,000, and pay that back over as many as 15 years. All you need is enough equity in your home to cover the agreed loan.

The current representative Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is 4.2%, and you’ll have to continue paying back the loan if you move home.

National grants

Two national grants are available to Devon homes – and if you’re eligible for either, you should absolutely consider applying.

Solar panels can cut your electricity bills by hundreds of pounds per year, reduce your carbon footprint, and potentially increase your property’s value, but the upfront cost is often high.

The Warm Homes: Local Grant

The The Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG) gives funding to local authorities so they can pay for homes to get energy-efficient improvements.

Households must be deprived, low-income, or receive a means-tested benefit to qualify.

If your home is eligible, you could get a largely discounted or free solar panel system, wherever you live in Devon.

In the most recent wave of funding, the government gave £5.25 million to a consortium of East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon, Teignbridge, Torbay and Torridge's councils.

Another consortium of West Devon and South Hams picked up £3.3 million in funding, and Plymouth City Council, operating on its own, was handed £3.02 million.

To see if you could qualify, apply through the government’s site or call your local council.

Energy Company Obligation (ECO4)

This government scheme compels large energy suppliers to install energy-saving improvements in low-income and vulnerable households that use electricity to power their heating systems.

If you think you could be eligible and receive at least one qualifying means-tested benefit – such as Income-based Jobseekers Allowance or Child Tax Credits – you could potentially get an energy supplier to install a free solar panel system at your property.

You'll have to move quickly though, as the scheme will end on 31 December 2026.

More than 61,987 solar panel systems were installed in the UK through ECO4 between July 2022 and January 2026, which is around 7% of all measures carried out through the programme.

For more information, read our guide to ECO4.

How many homes in Devon have solar panels?

55,762 households in Devon have had solar panels installed with a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certificate, as of February 2026.

That means 10.5% of homes in the county have had a solar panel system installed.

This is well above the UK average of 5.6% – as it should be, since Devon is one of the brightest, sunniest counties in the UK.

And these Devon numbers only include installations the MCS has certified, so the real number of households with solar panels is likely to be slightly higher.

Is Devon sunny enough for solar panels?

Devon receives substantially more sunlight than the great majority of UK counties, with Exeter getting 1,237 kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) on average per year – 13% higher than the national average.

This number will differ depending on where you are in Devon, but it’s still an excellent indication.

Exeter’s figure is based on the European Commission's Photovoltaic Geographical Information System, which provides regularly updated solar irradiance data.

The solar panel industry measures sunlight by tracking the sun’s average intensity in a specific area, which it calls ‘solar irradiance.’

It’s assessed in kilowatt-hours per square metre – that is, how much energy makes it from the sun, through 93 million miles of space, to a specific square metre on Earth.

There are multiple factors that affect solar panel output, but solar irradiance is one of the most crucial.

As you may expect, the more intense the sunlight that hits your panels, the higher the kWh/m², and the more solar electricity your installation generates – which means higher savings for you.

Typical solar panel output in Devon

Is it worth getting solar panels in Devon?

It’s absolutely worth getting solar panels in Devon, more so than it is in most of the UK – as 10.5% of households in the county have found out.

If you’re put off by the upfront cost, you could consider applying for a national or local grant.

However, if you're not eligible for any of these, consider Sunsave Plus, our all-in-one solar and battery solution that’s tailored to your home, and delivered as a monthly subscription with no upfront cost.

To see how much you could save with a solar & battery system from an installer that covers Devon, enter a few details below and we’ll provide an estimate.

Solar panels in Devon: FAQs