Renewable Energy Grants UK 2026
Comprehensive guide to government grants, schemes, and financial support for solar panels, heat pumps, and renewable energy across Yorkshire and the UK.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme
All homeowners replacing fossil fuel heating
Government grant for air source heat pump installation. Applied by installer, deducted from quote.
Smart Export Guarantee
All MCS-certified solar installations
Get paid for excess electricity exported to the grid. Guaranteed income for 20+ years.
0% VAT Solar
All residential solar until 2027
No VAT charged on residential solar panel, battery storage, or heat pump installations until March 2027.
Warm Homes Plan
Expected: low-income households, EPC D-G
Largest ever home energy improvement programme. Register your interest now.
Warm Homes Local Grant
Hull & East Riding, income under £36k, EPC D-G
Free solar panels, heat pumps & insulation for Hull households. YEERS is the local delivery partner of E.ON, appointed by Hull City Council.
Free Grant Eligibility Check
Not sure which grants you qualify for? Our team can check your eligibility for all available schemes including BUS, local authority support, and more. We handle all applications on your behalf.
Check Your EligibilityUnderstanding Renewable Energy Grants
Who Can Access Grants?
Government renewable energy grants are available to homeowners, landlords, and businesses across the UK. Eligibility varies by scheme, but the key programs include:
- Boiler Upgrade Scheme: Available to all homeowners replacing fossil fuel heating systems
- Smart Export Guarantee: Automatic eligibility for all MCS-certified solar installations
- 0% VAT: Applies to all residential renewable energy installations until March 2027
- Warm Homes Plan: Expected mid-2026 for low-income households with EPC ratings D-G — register your interest now to be first in line
How We Help
As MCS-certified installers, YEERS handles all grant applications on your behalf. We check your eligibility, prepare documentation, submit applications, and ensure you receive maximum funding. For the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, we deduct the £7,500 grant directly from your quote—you never wait for reimbursement.
Combining Multiple Grants
In many cases, you can combine multiple funding sources. All installations benefit from 0% VAT and Smart Export Guarantee payments. We advise on the optimal combination for your property and circumstances.
Is there a grant for solar panels on their own?
For a typical Yorkshire homeowner in 2026, the honest answer is no. There is no national grant that pays towards solar panels simply because you want them. The best-known grant, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, pays towards heat pumps and biomass boilers, not solar panels or batteries. What is left is a tax relief, export payments and two means-tested schemes.
- 0% VAT. Installing solar panels in a home is zero-rated until 31 March 2027, and from 1 April 2027 the rate reverts to 5% (HMRC VAT Notice 708/6). Batteries installed in a home have qualified since 1 February 2024, including batteries added to an existing solar system. This is a relief on your invoice, not a payment: see when 0% VAT on solar ends, or adding a battery to existing solar panels.
- Smart Export Guarantee. Not a grant. Licensed electricity suppliers pay you for electricity you export, and each supplier sets its own rate, which Ofgem requires to be above zero. As one example, Octopus's Outgoing Octopus tariff pays 12p per kWh; it is a variable tariff, so that rate can change.
- ECO4. Only for households that meet its benefit and property criteria, and only until 31 December 2026. Ofgem's delivery guidance treats solar PV as a heating measure: it is eligible only where the home has, or is getting, a hydronic heat pump, high heat retention electric storage heaters or a qualifying electric heating system. A home that keeps gas heating cannot get solar PV through ECO4.
- Warm Homes: Local Grant. Run through councils, for privately owned or privately rented homes with an EPC of D to G where household income is usually £36,000 or less (or in certain postcodes, or where someone gets certain benefits). Solar panels are one possible measure, but Hull's council-run scheme says improvements are delivered as a package based on the home assessment, so you cannot choose solar on its own.
So if your household is above those thresholds, plan on paying for solar yourself, with 0% VAT on the invoice and export payments afterwards. Whether it is worth it then depends on your roof, how much electricity you use in daylight and the price you are quoted, not on a grant. If anyone tells you solar panels are free, ask which scheme is paying and check the criteria on that scheme's own page before you sign anything.
Home energy grants by council area: what is open in September 2026
The Warm Homes: Local Grant is funded by government and delivered through councils. You start with one gov.uk application form, and your council will usually contact you within 10 working days to arrange a home survey. Below is what five councils across Hull, the East Riding, northern Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire say on their own websites, checked in September 2026. Funding figures are the allocations on the government's list of successful local authorities, updated July 2026. Status changes, so treat this as a starting point.
| Council | Warm Homes: Local Grant allocation | What the council says now | Solar panels listed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hull City Council | £3,402,806 | Its Hull Warm Homes site does not say applications are closed, but because of high demand it cannot guarantee a grant to every eligible applicant and is prioritising households in, or at greatest risk of, fuel poverty. E.ON processes applications. Warm Homes Team: 01482 612 908 or warmhomesteam@hullcc.gov.uk. | Yes, within a package set by the assessment |
| East Riding of Yorkshire Council | £1,500,000 | Not confirmed: council news from June 2026 says it is using Warm Homes: Local Grant funding, delivered with E.ON, in private and social housing, but we found no council page saying how to apply or whether it is open. Its energy efficiency page says it is no longer accepting new ECO4 or Great British Insulation Scheme applications. Healthy Homes team: (01482) 396301 (option 1) or healthy.homes@eastriding.gov.uk. | Not stated |
| North Lincolnshire Council | Part of the Midlands Net Zero Hub consortium | Not confirmed: we could not load the council's energy efficiency page to check its current status. Use the gov.uk form or contact the council. | Not confirmed |
| North East Lincolnshire Council | Part of the Midlands Net Zero Hub consortium | Waiting list: all enquiries are placed on a waiting list, and the council says that if it secures further funding, the customer support team at YES Energy Solutions, the community interest company it works with on home energy efficiency, will be in touch. | Not stated |
| North Yorkshire Council | £5,974,078 | Closed for now: applications reopen on 31 March 2027. For owner-occupied and privately rented homes with an EPC of D to G. | Yes, alongside battery storage and heat pumps |
For how the grant works for Hull households, see our Warm Homes Local Grant guide.
Looking for ECO4?
ECO4, the Energy Company Obligation, has been extended by nine months and now ends on 31 December 2026. The Great British Insulation Scheme was not extended and ended on 31 March 2026.
ECO4 is aimed at low-income households. According to gov.uk, help is available to people in private housing who claim certain benefits, including Universal Credit, Pension Guarantee Credit, Child Benefit and Housing Benefit, where owned homes are rated EPC D to G and privately rented homes E to G, and to social housing tenants in homes rated E to G. It covers insulation and heating upgrades; solar PV only counts under the heating rules described above.
To find out whether you qualify, gov.uk says to contact your local council to see whether it is taking part, or to contact an energy supplier directly.
Frequently asked questions
Can you still get government grants for solar panels?
Are there any solar panel grants available in the UK in 2026?
What grants are available for solar panels in North Yorkshire?
Updated September 2026.
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Air source heat pump grants in Yorkshire: what is actually available in 2026
If you are searching for ASHP grants Yorkshire, the honest answer is that there is no Yorkshire-specific heat pump grant. What exists is a national scheme, a national VAT relief, and a council-administered route that varies by which local authority you fall under. Households in Hull, the East Riding, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire and Teesside all draw on the same three routes below.
The three live routes
The main one is the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme, available across England and Wales for air source heat pumps. The point most homeowners miss: you do not apply for it. Your MCS-certified installer applies on your behalf and the grant is deducted from your quoted price, so you never handle the paperwork or front the money. Batteries are not eligible under the scheme, so a heat pump and battery project has to be costed as two separate things.
Second, VAT. Domestic heat pump, solar and battery installations carry 0% VAT until 31 March 2027, after which the rate returns to 5% (HMRC VAT Notice 708/6). That is not a grant you claim — it is simply absent from your invoice, and it disappears on a fixed date.
Third, the council route. The Warm Homes: Local Grant is council-administered. Because it is run locally, the answer for your address depends on your authority: Hull City Council for Hull; East Riding of Yorkshire for Beverley, Bridlington, Driffield, Hornsea and Goole; North East Lincolnshire for Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Immingham; North Lincolnshire for Scunthorpe; North Yorkshire for Selby; and Tees Valley for Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar and Hartlepool.
Comparison: which scheme is which
| Scheme | Who it is for | What it pays | Who applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme | Households in England & Wales installing an air source heat pump | £7,500 off an air source heat pump; batteries not eligible | Your MCS-certified installer, not you |
| 0% VAT relief | All domestic installations | 0% instead of 5% until 31 March 2027 | Nobody — applied at invoice |
| Warm Homes: Local Grant | Households qualifying under their local authority's criteria | Set by the administering council | Your council |
Where to go next
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is the route that applies to most Yorkshire households, and it has its own detailed page covering eligibility, timings and how the deduction appears on your quote — read the full £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme guide rather than working from this summary. If you want the technical side instead — sizing, radiators, flow temperatures and what the work involves — see air source heat pump installation.
YEERS is a Hull-based MCS-certified installer covering Hull, East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Teesside, with a 10-year workmanship warranty. Grid connection across the whole region is handled through Northern Powergrid. Use the quote form and we will confirm which of the three routes above your property qualifies for before you commit to anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a specific air source heat pump grant for Yorkshire?
No. There is no Yorkshire-only heat pump grant. Yorkshire households use the same national routes as the rest of England and Wales: the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme, 0% VAT on the installation until 31 March 2027, and the council-administered Warm Homes: Local Grant, which varies depending on whether your address sits under Hull City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire or Tees Valley.
How much is the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant for an air source heat pump?
£7,500 for an air source heat pump, available across England and Wales. It is deducted from your installed price rather than paid to you as cash, so the figure you should compare between quotes is the price after the grant has been applied.
Do I apply for the £7,500 grant myself?
No — and this is the single most common misunderstanding. Your MCS-certified installer applies for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme on your behalf and the £7,500 comes off your quote. You do not submit an application, and you do not have to fund the grant amount up front and reclaim it later.
Do I pay VAT on a heat pump installation in 2026?
No. Domestic heat pump, solar and battery installations are zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, after which the rate returns to 5% (HMRC VAT Notice 708/6). There is nothing to claim — the 0% simply appears on your invoice, and it ends on a fixed date rather than tapering.
Can I get the £7,500 grant towards a battery as well as the heat pump?
No. Batteries are not eligible under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme; the grant applies to the heat pump only. A battery still benefits from the 0% VAT rate until 31 March 2027, but it has to be budgeted separately from the grant-funded heat pump work.
Last updated August 2026.
