Plug-in solar has been talked about in the UK for years, but it has finally become a reality.
Since 27 August 2026, compliant plug-in solar panels have been legal to buy and use across Great Britain, giving more households a relatively straightforward way to generate some of their own electricity.
These smaller systems can be positioned in an appropriate outdoor space or on some balconies, although renters and flat owners may still need permission from a landlord, freeholder or other relevant party.
The government says a compliant plug-in solar kit can produce up to 800W and potentially provide up to 20% of an average home's electricity use, with estimated savings of up to £110 per year.
That's good news for anyone who has previously felt locked out of home solar. But it also raises an important question: what happens to the electricity your solar panels generate when you're not using it?
Solar has a timing problem
Solar energy production is naturally concentrated during daylight hours and, depending on the weather and your panels' position, can peak around midday.
For many households, that's when electricity demand is at its lowest. You might be at work, the kids could be at school, and many of the appliances that use the most electricity aren't switched on.
Then, when everyone gets home, the oven goes on, the TV comes to life, the washing machine starts spinning, and laptops and phones need charging, which is also when solar production begins to fall.
Without battery storage, electricity generated by solar panels needs to be put to use as it's produced if you want to benefit from it directly. Sadly, it doesn't just sit there waiting for you to use later that evening.
Battery storage allows households to capture electricity and use it later instead of relying solely on what's being generated at that very moment. Energy collected during a sunny afternoon, for example, can be stored and used after sunset.
And the idea becomes even more interesting when the battery can decide for itself when electricity should be stored and when it should be used.
This isn't just about storing solar energy
Anker SOLIX's new Solarbank 4 Pro is designed to do exactly that, combining home battery storage with intelligent energy management. It’s an all-in-one system, with the inverter integrated into the battery unit rather than supplied separately, so it shouldn’t be thought of as a standalone battery that simply pairs with an existing plug-in solar kit.
The standard system provides just over 5kWh of battery capacity, but because it's modular, households can add up to five BP5000 expansion batteries, bringing total storage capacity to as much as 30kWh if their energy needs grow.
Solarbank 4 Pro can also accept up to 5,000W of solar input and supports between four and 12 (!) solar panels, meaning it's designed to work with much larger solar installations than the 800W plug-in systems alone. More importantly, though, it isn't restricted to storing electricity generated by solar panels.
Households on a time-of-use electricity tariff can also charge the battery when grid electricity is cheaper, before using that stored energy when prices rise. Solarbank 4 Pro supports intelligent charging and discharging with time-of-use tariffs, effectively turning the battery into an energy buffer between your home, your solar panels and the grid.
If there's plenty of solar generation available, that energy can be stored. If electricity is particularly cheap overnight, the battery can charge from the grid. When electricity becomes more expensive or solar production drops, that stored energy can then be put to work around the home.
Anker estimates that this combination of increased solar self-consumption and time-of-use tariff charging could save up to around £770 per year in its reference household model. As with any such calculation, real-world savings will depend on factors including household electricity consumption, solar generation, weather and the tariff being used.
It's built to grow with your home
Someone installing a relatively modest solar setup today might add more panels later, which is why the Solarbank 4 Pro‘s flexibility is particularly relevant. An electric car could arrive on the driveway, or a gas boiler might eventually make way for a heat pump.
Starting with 5kWh and expanding to 30kWh means Solarbank 4 Pro doesn't have to stay the same size throughout its life. Its maximum 2,500W on-grid output is designed to handle everyday household loads, while a dedicated off-grid connection can provide up to 2,500W of battery backup during a power cut.
However, there is an important distinction between the Solarbank 4 Pro and the plug-in solar panels that have just become legal in Great Britain.
The new regulations currently cover plug-in solar panels without batteries, and they do not yet allow the Solarbank 4 Pro to be plugged into a standard household socket.
Under current UK regulations, a qualified electrician must install the Solarbank 4 Pro on a dedicated hardwired circuit. Anker says the hardware has been designed with future plug-in operation in mind.
For now, plug-in solar is making generating electricity at home accessible to more people. Battery storage represents the next part of the equation: giving households much more control over when that electricity is actually put to use.
And as solar generation becomes easier to access, being able to save that energy for later could prove almost as important as generating it in the first place.
