From Schuko to BSI: Germany's Plug-In Solar Path and What the UK Route Looks Like Next

I was on EcoFlow's UK product page for the STREAM Ultra Pro last week, comparing kits for a friend, when a line near the foot of the listing stopped me. The notice read, almost in passing, that UK plug-in solar regulation is expected in the coming months, that the current STREAM Series ships with open-end cables to fit the existing rules, and that plug-in cables will be released once the new regulation comes into effect.

That was a retailer of EcoFlow's size, on a public product page, telling buyers two things at once. The product was sold hardwired-ready, in line with what the UK permitted in May 2026, and the company expected the regulatory ground to shift, with enough confidence to flag a future product variant and a future buying moment. It was the most public retailer signal at that point on where the trade thought the UK was heading. Read this piece as a record of that moment. The shift arrived on 27 August 2026, when SI 2026 No. 848 came into force and made plug-in solar legal. If you only want the position today, it is this: a kit listed as Compliant on the ENA G98 Type Test Register goes into an ordinary 13A socket and is notified to your network operator afterwards, with no electrician.

This piece sits with that signal. Germany's Schuko path is the closest analogue we have, so I want to walk it from policy announcement to consumer outcome. Then look at the UK position, where Ed Miliband confirmed plug-in solar was coming to UK shops in 2026, and ask the question that EcoFlow's wording implicitly raised: what exactly did the UK still need in order to give households everything Germany unlocked in 2024?

1. Germany's Schuko path, the policy angle

Germany did not arrive at plug-in solar by accident. The headline event was Solarpaket I, a primary energy package passed by the Bundestag and signed off by the Bundesrat in May 2024. It set three plug-in solar changes that mattered:

1. The maximum AC output of a plug-in kit rose from 600W to 800W, matching the European technical norm.
2. Connection via the Schuko plug, the standard German two-pin domestic plug, was authorised for plug-in solar systems, ending years of grey-zone status.
3. Registration was simplified. Buyers no longer had to navigate the Marktstammdatenregister within a tight window, and the network operator was notified through a streamlined route.

Solarpaket I did not stand alone. It worked alongside VDE-AR-N 4105, the German low-voltage connection rule, which is the technical equivalent of the UK's ENA EREC G98. VDE-AR-N 4105 was already in force, and what Solarpaket I added was the legislative authority for the Schuko-plug method itself. The product side, the network-connection side, and the user-facing registration side all moved in concert.

The lesson, for anyone reading regulatory tea leaves, is that Germany's path was a chain, not a single switch. A primary law (Solarpaket I), a technical connection rule (VDE-AR-N 4105), and a registration simplification all had to be in place. The product specification confirmed what a compliant kit must look like; the law confirmed what the user could legally do with one.

2. Germany's Schuko path, the consumer angle

For a German buyer the experience changed in three stages.

Before May 2024. Plug-in solar sat in a grey zone. Many sellers offered kits and many households installed them, but the legal route was contested. The 600W cap was tighter than the European 800W norm, and the Schuko-plug method, while widely practised, was not authorised in primary law. A cautious consumer either waited or accepted some legal uncertainty.

After May 2024. The experience consolidated. Buy a kit with a microinverter that meets the European product specification, register the system with the network operator under the simplified route, plug into a Schuko socket on a circuit that meets the existing wiring standard, and the install is done. The registration takes minutes, not weeks. The legal route now matches what most users were already doing in practice.

The shift was not a green light to "plug anything in anywhere". It was a clear definition of which products, which connection method, and which notification process the law would recognise. Once that definition existed, the market moved quickly.

3. The result, by early 2026

The headline number for plug-in solar (Steckersolar) in Germany passed one million installed units in 2025, per Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft (BSW Solar) trade-body data, with a meaningful share of installs on rented balconies. Annual installs in 2025 ran at hundreds of thousands of units. Crucially, the rollout was disproportionately renters in flats and apartments, the demographic most poorly served by traditional rooftop solar.

The UK, by comparison, had a market with around ten retail brands active and a tiny installed base when this piece was written. The framework that lets buyers install a kit without booking a CPS-registered electrician arrived on 27 August 2026, and one hundred and twenty-three kits from twenty-seven manufacturers are now listed as Compliant on the ENA G98 Type Test Register.

4. The UK position, where the standards actually sit

Four documents matter for plug-in solar in the UK, each doing a different job:

• SI 2026 No. 848, made 16 July 2026, in force 27 August 2026. Amends the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 and the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002. This is the instrument that authorises the plug-in connection.
• BS 7671:2018+A4:2026, the IET Wiring Regulations, Amendment 4, published 15 April 2026. Governs electrical installations. Its published material does not describe a plug-in solar provision, so the property's wiring duties continue alongside the plug-in route.
• BS 1363-1:2023. Defines UK 13A plugs, sockets and adaptors. It was not rewritten. The amended Plugs and Sockets Regulations create a narrow approval route for a BS 1363 plug supplied with a plug-in solar device instead.
• DESNZ Interim Product Specification v2.0, published 16 July 2026. A product specification at the kit level: inverter behaviour, labelling, anti-islanding, safety testing. A kit assessed against it is listed on the ENA G98 Type Test Register.

Alongside these, ENA EREC G98 governs the connection of small generators (up to 16A per phase per installation) to the public low-voltage network. G98 is a notify-after-install route for type-tested equipment and already covers most 600W and 800W plug-in kits at the network-connection level.

The compliant route in the UK in May 2026, when this piece was written, was to buy a kit with a microinverter on the ENA G98 type-test register, hire a CPS-registered electrician (NICEIC, NAPIT, ELECSA, Stroma or equivalent) to hardwire it into a dedicated final circuit on the consumer unit, and submit G98 notification before energising. Since 27 August 2026 that is no longer the general route. If the kit shows as Compliant on the ENA G98 Type Test Register, you plug it into an ordinary 13A socket and notify your network operator afterwards, with no electrician. The hardwired install by a CPS-registered electrician remains available, and is the route you need for a kit that is not on the register.

5. What actually completed the UK chain, and why it was not a BSI standard

Now to the central question. Here is the German chain again, and the UK chain mapped against it:

The picture has moved a long way since I first sat down to write this piece. DESNZ issued a written ministerial statement on 15 March 2026 confirming the legalisation of plug-in solar in the UK, with the public announcement on 24 March 2026. BS 7671 Amendment 4 was published on 15 April 2026 and became mandatory on 15 October 2026, though it does not itself authorise a plug-in connection. On 21 April 2026 the government said it had earmarked up to £25 million to pilot support for plug-in panels for low-income households, with local authorities and mayors. The Interim Product Specification v2.0 was published on 16 July 2026. And the equivalent of Solarpaket I arrived as SI 2026 No. 848, made on 16 July 2026 and in force on 27 August 2026.

One expectation in the first version of this piece was wrong, and it is worth naming plainly. There was never a BSI plug-in solar product standard. That route was abandoned. The product rules live in the DESNZ Interim Product Specification v2.0 instead, and the thing that tells a buyer whether a given kit qualifies is its entry on the ENA G98 Type Test Register. Update, 15 September 2026: 123 kits from 27 manufacturers are listed as Compliant, 20 of them are on sale, and the cheapest is £336. See the live register tracker.

The trade view (electricians and standards specialists familiar with the file) was that the UK could reach the German end point without rewriting BS 1363 from scratch, via a rigorous product specification plus a targeted amendment confirming that a conforming product on a sound, RCD-protected circuit may use a plug-in route. That trade view was right about the shape and wrong about the paperwork. The targeted amendment is SI 2026 No. 848, not a BSI standard, and the DESNZ Interim Product Specification v2.0 is the product mechanism.

Nothing is still ahead on the regulatory side. SI 2026 No. 848 is in force, Ofgem approved the matching G98 change on 11 August 2026 with effect from 27 August, and register-listed kits are on sale. EcoFlow's wording ("Once the new regulation comes into effect") pointed to 27 August 2026. Retailer readiness, not regulation, is what now sets the pace.

6. Reading the EcoFlow signal

EcoFlow's UK product page for the STREAM Ultra Pro is, as far as I have seen, the most public statement from a major retailer about the UK regulatory direction. Three things sit inside that wording.

First, EcoFlow was explicit that the product then on sale was built for a hardwired connection. Open-end cables are what an installer needs for a hardwired connection by a CPS-registered electrician. That was the compliant route in May 2026, and EcoFlow was not pretending otherwise.

Second, the company expected the regulation to change, with enough confidence to flag a future product variant. Plug-in cables were not on sale at the time of writing, but EcoFlow had reserved a buying moment for them. This was a designed-for-the-future product, engineered on the assumption that some form of regulatory unlock would follow.

Third, the phrase "the coming months" was doing real work. EcoFlow could have written "the coming years" if the company expected a long wait. The wording suggested a window of weeks or months, and that reading held up. The unlock came on 27 August 2026.

One thing to be clear about today, because this section is about a manufacturer's own marketing. No EcoFlow product is listed on the ENA G98 Type Test Register at the time of this review. Nothing here should be read as saying an EcoFlow kit is compliant or approved for the plug-in route. Whatever a product page says about readiness, the register is what decides, and an unlisted kit still needs a CPS-registered electrician and a hardwired connection.

7. What I think is actually happening

The one part of my earlier read that did not survive contact with the facts was the BSI expectation. I had described the trigger as a forthcoming BSI plug-in solar product standard, expected in July 2026. No such standard was published, and that approach was dropped in favour of the DESNZ Interim Product Specification carried by SI 2026 No. 848. Anywhere you still see a "BSI plug-in solar standard" described as the thing that unlocks the plug-in route, including in older writing of mine, treat it as out of date.

I keep the standards tracker current, and the moment any primary source on this moves, this article and that tracker are updated within seven days.

8. What I am doing about it personally

I keep the standards tracker and the register tracker updated as primary sources move. I held my own kit purchase until the Interim Product Specification was final, so the kit I bought could be judged against the UK product specification rather than the European one. I still watch what major retailers put on their UK product pages, because a product page is marketing and the register is the record.

Three things I would suggest if you are thinking about a kit now:

1. Check the exact model on the ENA G98 Type Test Register before you pay. A kit showing as Compliant goes into an ordinary 13A socket and is notified to your network operator afterwards. Model names and variants matter, so match the full listing, not the brand.
2. If the kit you want is not on the register, it is not a plug-in kit in the UK. You would need a CPS-registered electrician and a hardwired connection, which is legal and safe but costs more and needs booking. That is the position for most imported kits.
3. Bookmark the register tracker. I update it within seven days of any primary source moving.

9. Common questions

• Did Germany's Solarpaket I make plug-in solar legal overnight?
  It clarified the legal route. Plug-in solar was sold and installed in Germany before Solarpaket I, but the legal status of the Schuko-plug connection was contested. Solarpaket I, in force from May 2024, ended that grey zone, authorised the Schuko connection method, lifted the AC ceiling to 800W, and simplified network-operator registration.
• Why does the UK not just copy Germany's approach?
  The UK's plug and socket standard (BS 1363) and wiring regulations (BS 7671) are different documents to Germany's, and the UK regulatory process moves through BSI, the IET, DESNZ, and where law is required, Parliament. In the end the UK reached the same destination by a different road. There is no BSI plug-in solar product standard, that route was abandoned. SI 2026 No. 848 amended the Plugs and Sockets Regulations and the ESQCR, the DESNZ Interim Product Specification v2.0 of 16 July 2026 sets the product rules, and the amended G98 handles notification. Plug-in solar became legal on 27 August 2026 without rewriting BS 1363.
• What does EcoFlow's UK product-page note actually mean?
  When that note was captured in May 2026, EcoFlow was anticipating the UK regulatory change that arrived on 27 August 2026, and it shipped the STREAM Series with open-end cables for a hardwired install by a CPS-registered electrician. The change has since happened. Note that no EcoFlow product is listed on the ENA G98 Type Test Register, so an EcoFlow kit cannot be plugged into a socket and self-notified. Only a kit that shows as Compliant on that register can. Check the register for the exact model before you buy.
• Does BSI product certification plus G98 notification satisfy the requirement on its own?
  There is no BSI plug-in solar product standard, that route was abandoned. The chain that actually works is SI 2026 No. 848, which came into force on 27 August 2026, the DESNZ Interim Product Specification v2.0 of 16 July 2026, BS 7671:2018+A4:2026, and the amended G98 that Ofgem approved on 11 August 2026 with effect from 27 August. What makes a kit usable in practice is its listing on the ENA G98 Type Test Register. A kit showing as Compliant goes into an ordinary 13A socket and is self-notified afterwards, with no electrician.
• Should I buy a kit now or wait?
  There is no longer much reason to wait. The Interim Product Specification v2.0 was published on 16 July 2026, SI 2026 No. 848 came into force on 27 August 2026, and one hundred and twenty-three kits from twenty-seven manufacturers are listed as Compliant on the ENA G98 Type Test Register, 20 of them on sale, with the cheapest at £336. Buy a kit that shows as Compliant, plug it in, and notify your network operator afterwards.

10. Sources

• UK Government press release, 24 March 2026: "Government to make plug-in solar available within months" (formal commitment to update G98 and BS 7671 to allow <800W plug-in solar to domestic mains sockets without an electrician, with tailored safety standards)
• EcoFlow UK product page, STREAM Ultra Pro listing, captured 28 May 2026
• BMWK (Germany): Solarpaket I press releases and explanatory notes
• VDE-AR-N 4105 technical connection rule
• Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft (BSW Solar): balcony solar adoption data
• BSI: BS 1363-1:2023, specification for 13A plugs, socket-outlets and adaptors
• IET: BS 7671 Wiring Regulations (18th Edition) Amendment 4:2026
• Energy Networks Association: ENA EREC G98 (small generator connection)
• Plug Solar Hub: BSI 2026 Plug-In Solar Tracker
• Plug Solar Hub: BS 7671 and Plug-In Solar in the UK
• Plug Solar Hub: Germany's Balcony Solar Boom and the UK Picks

If a source above moves or is updated, this post will be updated within seven days. Substantive corrections are logged on the changelog. Email [email protected] if you spot an error or have a primary source to add.

Related reading: BSI 2026 Tracker · BS 7671 and Plug-In Solar · Germany's Balcony Solar Boom · Ofgem's July 2026 Price Cap Rise · Complete UK Guide