Solar panel installers in the New Forest

The New Forest is one of the more complicated places in the country to install solar, and one of the more rewarding once it’s done. We install solar PV, battery storage and EV chargers across Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, Lymington, Ringwood, Fordingbridge, Burley, Totton, Marchwood and the surrounding villages.

We’re based in Wimborne, just up the road, so the New Forest is genuinely our patch rather than a postcode we’ll travel to if the job’s big enough.

The National Park changes things

This is the part most installers gloss over. The New Forest is a National Park, and that carries real planning implications you need to know before you spend money on a survey.

Permitted development is more restricted here. In National Parks, the usual permitted development rights for solar are tighter than they are elsewhere in England. Panels still can’t protrude more than 200mm from the roof plane or sit above the highest part of the roof — but additional restrictions can apply, particularly on prominent elevations.

Ground-mounted arrays are much harder here. Standalone solar on land within the National Park faces significantly more scrutiny than it would outside. Not impossible, but not something to assume.

Listed and historic properties are common. The Forest villages have a high concentration of thatch, timber-frame and listed buildings. Thatch in particular is a genuine constraint — it isn’t a roof you can mount panels on, and we’ll tell you that on day one rather than after a survey fee.

Trees. It’s a forest. Shading is the single biggest technical issue we deal with here, and it’s the most common reason we advise someone against proceeding. Heavy, unavoidable shade across the middle of the day will wreck the economics of a system, and no amount of clever inverter selection fully fixes it. We assess it properly during the survey rather than guessing from an aerial photo.

Where it works well

Weighing it up? Read our honest guide to the advantages and disadvantages of solar energy before you commit.

Plenty of the Forest works very well for solar. The newer housing around Totton, Marchwood and the edges of Ringwood tends to have modern roofs, decent orientation and less tree cover. Properties with open southern aspects — and there are many — do well, helped by some of the better daylight totals in the UK.

Being close to the coast in the southern Forest, corrosion resistance on mounting hardware matters more than it does inland. It’s a detail, but it’s the kind of detail that shows up in ten years’ time.

Why use us

We know the planning position. We check National Park constraints, conservation status and listing as part of the survey, rather than leaving you to discover them. Local authorities apply rules differently, so we’d always confirm with yours before proceeding.

MCS certified and NAPIT registered. MCS matters practically — you need it to claim the Smart Export Guarantee and get paid for what you export.

No subcontractors. Our own team does every install, so we’re accountable for the work on your roof.

An insurance-backed guarantee protecting your workmanship warranty even if we ceased trading.

Octopus Energy Trusted Partner, which opens up time-of-use tariffs that work well alongside battery storage.

We’ll tell you if it’s a no. Given the shading here, we say no more often in the New Forest than anywhere else we work. We’d rather do that than sell you a system that underperforms for twenty-five years.

Next steps

Get a free, no-obligation quote, or arrange a call and we’ll go through your roof, your tree cover and your electricity use honestly.

Our solar FAQs cover the usual questions. You can also see our wider Hampshire coverage or read about how our installations work.