Data from MCS shows a record start to the year for certified installations, with 210,000 in the UK between January and June 2026, up 17 per cent on the previous highest start to a year in 2025 and equivalent to one installation every 74 seconds.

Solar panels were the biggest driver, with almost 150,000 certified installations, a 14 per cent increase on last year’s record. It took nearly 15 years for solar to break its long-standing annual record, but has now been broken two years running.

Battery storage installations have also risen sharply, almost doubling the number for the same period last year with 36,000 MCS certified installations in 2026 so far. This means last year’s annual record of 40,000 installations has almost been surpassed in just six months.

The new build market is also contributing to the growth in numbers, with 25 per cent of installations in 2026 on new build properties. This is a particularly strong market for solar, with the latest available data for new homes (which covers the opening quarter to 2026) showing an estimated 59 per cent were fitted with MCS certified solar panels, as the sector prepares to deliver the Future Homes Standard.

MCS data also shows a growing trend in combining multiple technologies in a single home. One in three installations in 2026 were either delivered onto a home that already had an MCS certified renewable or were part of an installation that combined more than one technology, and 92 per cent of battery installations so far this year are in properties with solar panels.

Heat pump installations, however, were 17 per cent lower than the first half of 2025.

Charlotte Lee, chief executive of Heat Pump Association UK (HPA UK), said: “It’s fantastic to see a record number of renewable installs, however it’s disappointing that MCS certified heat pump installations are not following this trend. Despite this, HPA UK data for H1 2026 shows that sales of space heating heat pumps have grown by 2 per cent from H1 2025. This has been driven by deployment into new build following confirmation of the Future Homes and Buildings Standard, with installations in new build properties 23 per cent higher in H1 2026 than H1 2025.”

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