Northern Powergrid: connecting solar in the Bradford district

Who runs the wires

Two different companies stand behind the electricity in a Bradford home. Your supplier sells you the units and sends the bill. Northern Powergrid owns and runs the local network: the cables under the street, the substations and the service cable into the house. It is the second company that needs to know about solar panels, because a roof system pushes electricity back into those cables whenever the house is not using all of it. Switching supplier makes no difference to that: whoever sends the bill, Northern Powergrid still runs the cables.

The rules come from engineering standards written through the network companies' body, the Energy Networks Association: G98 for small, fully type-tested equipment and G99 for everything else (ENA). Northern Powergrid's own pages set out how it applies them, and MCS publishes plain guidance for installers on what to send and when (MCS). The ENA adds that compliance is the customer's responsibility, which in practice means checking that your installer has done the paperwork.

There is a lot more of this paperwork than there used to be. Government figures count 3,633 solar PV installations of every size in the district at the end of 2015 and 7,297 at the end of 2025 (DESNZ), and each new connection adds to what the local network has to carry on a sunny afternoon.

Small systems: connect first, then notify

Most home systems are small enough for G98. The ENA describes it as covering fully type-tested micro-generators up to and including 16 A per phase, and says it applies where a generator's capacity is below 3.68 kW per phase. Northern Powergrid's micro-generation page puts the same line at 3.68 kW, or 11.04 kW across three phases, for small-scale generation at a single premises (Northern Powergrid).

For systems inside that line, the order is connect first, tell the network afterwards. Northern Powergrid says your installer will need to notify it within 28 days of connecting the equipment, and that a notification is enough because the low voltage network should be able to handle a single unit. MCS describes the same step as G98 Form B, sent within 28 days of the system being commissioned. You do not need to apply in advance, and you do not need to contact Northern Powergrid yourself, but you should ask the installer for a copy of what was sent. Its small-scale generation page, which covers generation and energy storage devices together, is where the G98 form and the online route sit (Northern Powergrid).

Plan the whole system at the start. If you think you may add a battery or more panels later, say so when you ask for quotes, because the network operator looks at what is already connected at the property as well as what is new, and an addition can move the whole installation from one route to the other. It is far simpler to apply once for the system you will end up with than to notify a small one and apply again later.

Batteries count towards the limit

A battery changes the sums. MCS explains that network operators treat storage as demand when it is charging from the network and as generation when it is exporting, and that G98 and G99 apply to storage just as they do to solar panels (MCS). The battery's inverter output therefore adds to the panels' when the network operator looks at the total.

That is why a combined system often ends up outside G98. MCS says that where battery storage is installed alongside another technology such as solar PV, the total connected generation is likely to be above 16 A per phase, so G99 applies. There is a fast-track route for these cases, where the capacity is over 3.68 kW, the inverter is type-tested to G98 standards and the storage will not run when the grid fails. The form for that route goes to the network operator before installation, though MCS says the connection time is reduced. The ENA's description of the fast track also counts electricity storage devices in the total capacity (ENA).

The same applies if you add a battery to panels that are already on the roof: MCS says that where G99 applies, including installations over 3.68 kW with storage added on either side of the connection, the application must reach the network operator before installation. The battery guide covers sizes and prices for the district.

Bigger systems: apply before fitting

Above 16 A per phase, G99 applies, and MCS says prior permission to connect must be granted before installation. Northern Powergrid keeps a separate large-scale generation page with the G99 form and an online application; it describes an assessment of whether the network can take the new equipment, followed by a connection offer. Neither of the Northern Powergrid pages for small systems gives a fee or a fixed response time for a home system, so this guide gives none either. If a quote includes a G99 application, ask the installer who is paying for it and do not book a fitting date until the network operator has replied.

One case catches out groups of neighbours. Northern Powergrid's micro-generation page says that installing generation at multiple premises in a cluster is different from a single home: approval is needed before connection, because the effect on the local network can be significant. Where several houses on a terrace are fitted as one project, that approval comes first. The stone terraces guide covers the roofs themselves.

Export limiting, in general terms

Some systems are fitted with an export limit: equipment that caps how much the property can send out to the network, whatever the panels and battery are producing at the time. The ENA points to its G100 document, which gives technical guidance for customer export limitation schemes, and its G99 fast track can require a G100 scheme with its own commissioning form (ENA). A limit can let a larger system connect where the network can only take so much from one house. The trade-off is that anything above the limit has to be used in the home, stored, or not generated at all.

If a quote mentions export limiting, ask three things: what the limit is, whether the network operator asked for it or the design chose it, and how much generation the installer expects to lose on a bright summer day. Exported units are also what an export tariff pays for, so the answers matter for the export payments side of the decision.

Paperwork worth keeping

Heat pumps go through Northern Powergrid as well. Its heat pump page says that in most cases the installer can confirm the installation meets its notification criteria, fit it and notify within 28 days; where it does not, the installer must apply before connecting (Northern Powergrid). If panels and a heat pump are going in, ask each installer what they have told the network about, and read the heat pump guide. A plug-in kit up to 800 W follows its own product rules (SI 2026/848), set out in the plug-in solar guide.

The same heat pump page lists what an application asks for, and the list is a fair guide to what to have ready for any of these routes: your name and address; the owner's details and a letter of authority if you are not the owner, which matters for tenants; the MPAN, the reference number for the existing supply, printed on your electricity bill; what is being installed; and any equipment already in the house, such as heat pumps or electric vehicle charge points.

Keep the G98 notification or the G99 approval with the MCS certificate and the installer's handover papers. You will want them together when you apply for an export tariff, add a battery, replace the inverter or sell the house, and the upkeep guide explains why they belong in the same folder. For prices, including what a battery adds, see what solar costs in the district, and to check an installer before you sign, use the installer checklist.