How to check a plug-in solar kit is actually legal: the ENA register explained

One check tells you whether a plug-in solar kit may lawfully be sold and connected in Great Britain: whether the model is listed on the Energy Networks Association Type Test Register. A CE or UKCA mark does not answer that question. Neither does a photograph of a certificate, or a seller’s assurance that the kit “meets the 2026 regulations”.

Under the framework that took effect on 27 August 2026, a manufacturer must register the device and obtain confirmation of compliance before placing it on the market. That obligation sits on the manufacturer rather than the buyer. Because the market is new and enforcement is untested, though, the practical burden of asking falls on the buyer for the time being.

What the register is, and how to read a listing

What the register actually is

The ENA Type Test Register is a list of generation equipment that has been type-tested against the relevant connection standard and accepted by the network operators collectively, so that an installer notifying a connection can point at a reference rather than submit test evidence for every job. It has existed for years for conventional microgeneration equipment such as string inverters and microinverters. It is hosted on the ENA Connect Direct platform.

What is new is that plug-in solar devices have been folded into it. The DESNZ Interim Product Specification, the document given legal force by SI 2026/848, requires manufacturers to register plug-in devices on the register via ENA Connect Direct and to hold confirmation of compliance before the product goes on sale.

Registration is a declaration backed by type-test evidence. Nobody inspects the box you receive. It confirms that the model was tested and accepted, which is worth knowing, though it stops short of a guarantee about an individual unit.

What a listing reference looks like

References follow a manufacturer-and-model pattern with version and amendment suffixes. Every device showing as compliant for Great Britain at launch came from one manufacturer, UKSOL. Two of those entries are:

• UKSOL/21002/V1/A2 for the Pro Compact 460 W ground mount
• UKSOL/21007/V1/A3 for the Pro Duo 890 W

The shape is a manufacturer identifier, a model number, a version and an amendment. A bare product SKU, a certificate number from a test house or a UKCA declaration number is something else, and a seller offering one of those in place of a register reference has either misunderstood the question or is hoping you will.

Note also that the reference is model-specific and version-specific. A manufacturer with one listed product does not thereby have a listed range. If you are buying the 920 W variant and the reference you were given is for the 460 W model, you do not have a reference for what you are buying.

How to search the register yourself

The register is searchable on the ENA Connect Direct platform, and it takes about a minute. Set the jurisdiction filter to GB, set compliance status to Compliant, and set the device type to plug-in solar. What comes back is the full list of models that may lawfully be sold and connected by plug in Great Britain on that day.

It is an industry platform built for network operators and installers rather than a consumer lookup tool, so the filters are worded in their language rather than in shopping language. The list itself is short enough to read in one go, which makes checking a specific product straightforward. If the manufacturer you are looking at is not on it, that is your answer.

What the law actually says about the ENA

The duty to register reaches a buyer through two documents rather than one. The statutory instrument that legalised plug-in solar never mentions the Energy Networks Association. The naming happens in the specification that the instrument gives legal force to. Both are quoted below so you can follow the chain yourself.

The statutory instrument

The instrument is SI 2026 No. 848, the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 and Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 (Amendment) Regulations 2026. It was made on 16 July 2026, laid before Parliament on 17 July 2026 and came into force on 27 August 2026. It was signed by Martin McCluskey, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Regulation 2 inserts a new paragraph (3A) into regulation 8 of the 1994 Regulations. This is the provision that lets a plug which departs from BS 1363 be approved at all:

Sub-paragraph (c) is the hinge of the whole framework. Every requirement in the specification becomes a condition of approval through that one line.

The instrument then defines what it is talking about:

Limb (b) is where the 800 W ceiling comes from. Limb (e) is why kits with a battery fall outside the framework, since a battery system that charges from the household supply is doing the one thing the definition rules out.

The specification is pinned to a version and a date:

Regulation 3(3) substitutes regulation 22(1)(c) of the 2002 Regulations, which is the provision governing whether a source of energy may be connected to the network at all:

The explanatory note at the end of the instrument states the effect plainly:

Two lines on territorial extent matter for readers outside Great Britain. Regulation 1(3) reads “Regulations 1 and 2 extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.” Regulation 1(4) reads “Regulation 3 extends to England and Wales and Scotland.” The plug approval route therefore reaches Northern Ireland while the connection provision does not, which is covered in our guide to the position in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The specification

The ENA appears here. Section 7, headed Network-technical requirements, reads:

Section 9.3, headed Reporting, states the same duty again:

The platform is named two different ways in the same document, ENA Direct Connect in section 7 and ENA Connect Direct in section 9.3. Connect Direct is the correct name. The inconsistency is in the published specification itself.

Both passages put the registration before the sale. A device registered after it reached the shelves has not met the requirement as written, and the wording “obtain confirmation” means a submitted application is not enough on its own.

What the chain adds up to

Read the two documents together and the position is straightforward. A plug-in solar device that is not on the ENA register does not comply with the specification. A plug supplied with a device that does not comply with the specification cannot be approved under the amended 1994 Regulations. A device that does not comply with the specification must not be installed or operated under the amended 2002 Regulations. The register reference is the visible end of that chain, which is why it is the one thing worth asking a seller for.

What to ask a seller, word for word

Keep it narrow and factual. Vague questions get vague answers.

1. “What is the ENA Type Test Register reference for this exact model?”
2. “Does the registration cover the microinverter supplied with this kit, in this configuration?”
3. “Was the device registered before it was placed on the market?”
4. “Does it include a non-rewireable moulded BS 1363-1 plug with a BS 1362 fuse of 5 A or less?”
5. “Is the outdoor assembly rated at least IP55?”
6. “Does the product marking state that DNO notification is mandatory on connection and on disconnection?”

Those last three come straight from the Interim Product Specification and are useful precisely because a seller who has read the specification can answer them instantly, and one who has not cannot bluff them.

What to conclude when they cannot answer

If a seller cannot give you a register reference, that does not make the product dangerous. It does mean the product is not demonstrably within the plug-in route, and that you have no basis for connecting it by plug. Several distinct situations look identical from the outside:

• A device with a battery, which cannot be within the framework at all. See why battery kits are excluded.
• A grey-import device built for the German market, typically with a Schuko plug and often supplied with an adaptor. Multi-way adaptors, travel adaptors, RCD adaptors and plug convertors are expressly not permitted under the specification, and nor are extension cables.
• A genuine panel-only device from a manufacturer that has not completed registration yet.

Only the third of those is a waiting game. The first two do not become compliant with time.

Why the register carries so much weight

The safety study DESNZ commissioned from Arceio Limited with Eurofins E&E UK (ref RAF013/2526, June 2026) tested six systems through standard 13 A sockets. Much of what it found was reassuring: stable thermal behaviour, anti-islanding operating within the required times, protective devices working as intended. But it also recorded conducted emission exceedances above domestic Class B limits at maximum export, inconsistent export limitation between products, a cable sheath that shrank under prolonged heat, and one RCBO trip time of 89 ms against a 40 ms standard. Its conclusion was that “product quality is not uniform across the market”.

That conclusion is the argument for the register. Type testing and registration are the mechanism that filters the uniform from the not-uniform, and the reference number is the only handle a consumer has on it. We go through the study in detail in what the DESNZ safety study found.

A short buying sequence

Ask for the reference before you pay. Keep the seller’s answer in writing, and an email is fine. Check the plug is a moulded BS 1363-1 with a fuse of 5 A or less and that no adaptor is in the box. Confirm the rated AC output does not exceed 800 VA / 800 W. Then, once it is connected, notify your network operator within the required window.

Our reviews record the register reference for every kit where one has been published, and where to buy plug-in solar in the UK covers which retailers have put listed stock on shelves as opposed to merely expressing support for the policy.