LJM Solutions fits solar PV, battery storage and EV charging across Leeds and West Yorkshire, including the terrace and back-to-back roofs that plenty of installers would rather not quote on. Our own engineers do the work, grid applications go to Northern Powergrid, and every finished system comes with an MCS certificate.
Comparing solar panel installers in Leeds? Ask each one what they would do with your roof specifically.
Leeds has the largest surviving stock of back-to-back housing in the country, somewhere near 19,000 properties concentrated in Harehills, Armley, Beeston and Holbeck. These roofs do not behave like the semi detached houses online solar calculators assume, so a figure generated from a postcode alone is usually wrong. A back-to-back shares its rear wall with the house behind, which leaves one usable slope facing your own street, and the chimney stack tends to sit in the middle of it. Leeds also sits under Northern Powergrid rather than National Grid, and the conservation area rules here bite harder than most places. All of that is worth knowing before anyone quotes you a number.
Every solar company says the same things in its advertising. The difference shows up in whether anyone has actually looked at your roof before quoting.
Survey, design, installation and commissioning stay in house, so one team carries the job from start to finish. On a constrained Leeds roof that matters more than it does elsewhere, because the design depends entirely on what the surveyor found: where the stack sits, how the neighbouring terrace shades you in winter, whether the cellar will take a battery.
We will tell you when the answer is six panels rather than fourteen, and we will tell you when a roof is not worth doing at all. Anyone quoting a back-to-back for a large array has not been to the property. Our recommendations come with the figures attached so you can check them against another quote.
Systems need attention over time. A string drops offline, an inverter faults, birds get under the array. We monitor, service and repair what we install, and we pick up orphaned systems whose original installer has gone quiet, which happens often enough in this trade to be worth asking about. Warranty registrations are completed properly at handover so the paperwork exists when you need to use it.
Before signing anything, check for MCS certification, ask whether the engineers are employed or subcontracted, and find out who you ring in three years when something stops working. The answer to that last question tells you most of what you need to know.
What fits on a Leeds roof depends heavily on what kind of house it is. A back-to-back realistically takes six to eight panels on its single street facing slope, around 2.6 to 3.5 kWp, and pairing that with a battery usually makes more sense than on a larger roof because it lets a small array cover the evening instead of exporting at midday. Through terraces have front and rear pitches, so there is more to work with. Stone built semis need a structural look first, because natural stone slate is far heavier than concrete tile and the fixing method is different.
We work across Headingley, Chapel Allerton, Roundhay, Horsforth, Armley, Beeston, Pudsey and the rest of the LS postcode area. On terraced streets with no rear access the scaffold goes up from the pavement, which means a licence from Leeds City Council and often a parking bay suspension. We arrange both as part of scheduling rather than finding out on the morning.
We also install across Yorkshire, Chesterfield and Nottingham, and you can see the full picture of our work on our about us page.
Commercial premises often suit solar better than houses, because the demand happens in daylight. A unit drawing power through the working day consumes its own generation instead of exporting it at a low rate. We design and install from 10 kWp up to 250 kWp.
Sizing starts with your half hourly consumption data rather than the roof area, since a system matched to the meter is what makes the return work. Three phase design, G99 applications to Northern Powergrid, ballasted systems for flat roofs and conventional pitched roof mounting are all covered. CHAS SSIP, Constructionline Gold and Cyber Essentials are in place for procurement and framework requirements.
A system’s working life starts at commissioning. Panels carry performance warranties running to twenty five years, but inverters are electronics and they are the component most likely to want attention first. Faults are rarely dramatic. A shaded string, a failed optimiser or a corroded connection will quietly cost you generation for months while everything still looks fine from the ground. We monitor what we install, service it on request, and handle warranty claims ourselves instead of passing you a manufacturer’s number. On older Leeds terraces, birds nesting under arrays come up regularly, and proofing is simple once access is already in place.
We also take on systems other companies installed, which matters in a city where a fair number of installers have come and gone. That covers fault finding, inverter replacement, panel cleaning, bird proofing, retrofitting battery storage to an array fitted without it, and completing export registration where it was never done. A surprising number of households have been giving their surplus away since switch-on because nobody registered them for the Smart Export Guarantee. If that applies to you, it is the first thing worth sorting.
Yes, with realistic expectations on size. A back-to-back has one usable slope rather than two, and the chimney usually sits in the middle of it. Six to eight panels is the normal outcome, roughly 2.6 to 3.5 kWp. Adding a battery makes that smaller array work harder.
Normally no, because roof mounted solar is permitted development. Two things change that. Listed buildings need consent, and in a conservation area permitted development does not cover panels on a wall or roof slope fronting a highway. Since many Leeds terraces only have a street facing slope, this comes up more here than elsewhere.
Northern Powergrid, the distribution network operator for Yorkshire and the North East. They are a separate organisation from your electricity supplier. They receive G98 notifications and approve G99 applications, and we deal with them on your behalf.
G98 applies up to 3.68kW per phase of inverter output and is notified after installation. G99 applies above that and must be approved before the system is energised, with a window of up to 45 working days. Most terrace and back-to-back systems fall under G98, which removes the wait entirely.
We do. Terraces and back-to-backs generally have no rear access, so scaffold is erected from the pavement, which needs a licence from Leeds City Council and often a parking bay suspension. It adds lead time, and a quote that never mentions it may not have costed it.
Usually the cellar. Most Leeds terraces have one, and it is often better than a loft anyway: cooler, structurally solid and close to the incoming supply. It needs a damp and ventilation check first. Where there is no suitable cellar, a weather rated external unit is the alternative.
MCS certification first, since without it you cannot register for the Smart Export Guarantee. Then ask whether engineers are employed or subcontracted, whether the quote came after a site visit or just a postcode, and who you contact if something fails in year three.
Yes. Natural stone slate is considerably heavier than concrete interlocking tile and the mounting method used on standard tiles does not transfer. The existing timbers are already carrying that load, so a structural assessment forms part of the survey. It rarely rules solar out, but it does mean a price given without a visit is guesswork.
Roughly 950 to 1,000 kWh per kWp a year on an unshaded, well oriented pitch. A 3.5 kWp array therefore lands near 3,400 kWh annually. Leeds gets less annual sunlight than the south coast, but the gap is smaller than most people expect and it does not change whether an installation is worth doing.
Not always, though on a constrained Leeds roof it often matters more than extra panels would. Without storage, anything generated while the house is empty is exported at your export rate. With storage, the same energy offsets electricity you would otherwise buy at full price.
That depends on the supplier, not the region, and the range is wide. The lowest rates sit near 1p per kWh. The best flat rate without a battery requirement is around 25p, and time of use tariffs pay more at peak but need both a battery and a matching import tariff. Worth comparing at commissioning.
Directly employed engineers, no call centre, no third party sales agency. We quote on what the roof will actually take rather than what sounds impressive, and we handle the grid application, the planning check and the scaffold permits instead of leaving them with you.
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Experienced solar, electrical & energy-efficiency specialists in Nottingham, with 25+ years of industry expertise.
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