Tuesday 22–Thursday 24 September, NEC Birmingham. 500+ exhibitors, 20,000 attendees, and a genuinely useful marketplace if you know what to ignore.
The Solar & Storage Live show at Birmingham next week is the UK's largest renewable energy exhibition. If you're a homeowner trying to work out what solar or battery storage actually looks like, or an installer scoping suppliers, it's worth half a day. But you need to understand what the show actually is: a sales event—not a testing ground, not a real-world case study, and definitely not where to make purchasing decisions.
That said, it's useful precisely because it shows you the full commercial landscape. Here's what you need to know before you go.
If you look at which companies are here, how much booth space they've bought, and what they're demoing, you get a clear signal about where the market is headed. Three shifts are visible:
If you're a beginner looking at the show, these three shifts tell you the actual state of play. The market has moved on from "should I get solar?" to "how do I position myself in a flexible grid?"
Over 500 companies will be on the floor, ranging from global inverter manufacturers (SolaX, Sungrow, FoxESS, Ecoflow, Marstek) to smaller component specialists, cable distributors, software platforms, and accreditation bodies. The breadth is the point: it's the supply chain laid out in one building.
The show breaks broadly into thirds:
Solar kit — panels, mounting systems, optimisers (devices that squeeze a bit more from underperforming modules). Most of this has become commodity hardware; most companies' claims about their panels being better are not backed by real-world performance data. Good to see in person, but don't expect revelations.
Battery storage systems — the actual growth area. You'll see AC-coupled (sits on the wall after your existing inverter, easier retrofit but less efficient) and DC-coupled (works directly with your solar inverter, more efficient but needs to be designed in from the start). Most major suppliers are here: Sigenergy, Sunsynk, MetSolar, and others. This is where the actual technical variety lives.
Support services — installers, training bodies (MCS, NAPIT), software for monitoring and energy management, and companies trying to make batteries talk to heat pumps or EV chargers. Some of this is real; some is vaporware. Harder to spot the difference in a one-minute booth conversation.
Manufacturers and inverter makers. They'll have live demos. You can ask about warranty length, real support infrastructure, whether they actually have engineers in the UK, and what their failure rates look like. Most won't know the failure rate; some will dodge the question. That's useful data in itself.
Installers and integrators. Book the "Meet the Installers" pod slots if you're shopping for someone. This is more honest than booth promises: they'll tell you about supply chain reality, lead times, and whether the kit actually works together in practice. Ask about recent installs and whether they're happy with the hardware after 12 months.
Training bodies and certification (MCS, NAPIT). If you're thinking about installation as a career, these bodies matter. If you're a homeowner trying to understand whether your installer is properly accredited, their booth is useful for understanding what MCS certification actually means (spoiler: it's not a guarantee of quality, but it is a baseline).
The "Start-up Zone." Usually this is where smaller companies trying to differentiate themselves live. Some of it's gimmicky. Some is genuinely innovative. Look for things that solve real problems (integrating battery data into energy billing, for instance) rather than things that sound nice (yet another monitoring app).
Don't commit to buying from a booth. Prices negotiated in real time at an exhibition are almost always worse than quotes you get later when you have competition running. The booth salesperson's job is to lock your contact details; their manager will call you in two days with something slightly more realistic. Let them.
Don't judge a company's product on a demo. Demos are conditions-controlled, pre-wired, and running on demo mode. Real roofs are not. Ask installers, not manufacturers, whether the kit actually works on genuine UK house setups. Ask about edge cases: what happens on a 30° north-facing roof? What if your grid connection is poor? What if the weather forecast is rubbish?
Don't get distracted by one technology. The show is designed to make you think you need everything: solar + battery + heat pump + EV charging + home energy management + grid services + [something else]. You don't. Most UK homes installing solar and storage today are not also installing heat pumps or EV chargers. It's fine to stay simple. The booth ecosystem wants you to feel like you're behind.
Don't be impressed by claims without numbers. "Industry-leading efficiency," "cutting-edge software," "trusted by over 10,000 installers"—these are sales language. What's the actual efficiency (kWh out ÷ kWh in)? What does "cutting-edge" mean in practice? How many of those 10,000 installers are actually returning customers? Politely ask for hard facts.
Here's what the show floor is quietly telling you:
AC coupling is now the default, not the exception. Three years ago, AC-coupled batteries were a retrofit workaround. Now MCS certified more than 40,000 domestic battery installations in 2025, roughly one every 90 seconds and about a 34% rise on 2024—almost all of those were AC-coupled retrofits. The show has lots of AC battery manufacturers (SolaX, Sigenergy, Sunsynk, Marstek, EcoFlow) because that's what actually sells. DC coupling matters for new builds; for the existing solar base, AC is the future.
Virtual Power Plants and grid services integration. This is the genuine innovation on the floor. Companies like SolarEdge, Fronius, and energy aggregators are now building the infrastructure to let home batteries participate in demand flexibility and ancillary grid services. Most booths aren't selling you a battery; they're selling you a piece of grid infrastructure. Your battery doesn't just sit on your wall anymore—it can earn money by helping balance the grid during peak demand.
Battery-only installations are growing faster than solar+storage. That's a market shift. Some homeowners are installing batteries without solar because time-of-use tariffs make it viable. The show will have booth space for companies selling that story.
Heat pump and EV integration is being shown, but ask installers if it actually works together. Fronius and Tigo are both showing integrated heat pump and EV charging alongside batteries. On the demo booth, it looks seamless. In practice, integrating a battery, heat pump, and EV charger is tricky—different manufacturers, different control systems, different communication protocols. Ask installers whether they've actually wired three-brand systems together and whether they work reliably. The honest answer is usually "it works, but there are edge cases."
Supply chain depth. If a manufacturer sells through the booth, where else are they sold? Are they on major distributor lists (Sager, other big names)? If a company is only sold direct, that's fine, but know what you're buying into. Can you get spare parts easily?
Warranty and support. Don't just ask the booth; listen to what installers say about dealing with warranty claims. A 10-year battery warranty sounds good. A battery that takes six months to replace under warranty is expensive downtime.
Grid services infrastructure. If a company is showing VPP or grid services integration, ask: is it available in your area? Is it built into the product or an add-on? Do home installers have the training to set it up, or does it require the manufacturer's own engineers? This is where the show reveals whether innovation is real or roadmap.
Installer density near you. The show has tens of thousands of attendees, but you'll have maybe 50–100 installers in your postcode. Ask the "Meet the Installers" zone for local names. Do your own reference checks; don't rely on the show crowd.
Since you're going Tuesday:
Registration is free. Get your ticket today — you can register online at the official Solar & Storage Live website or the Terrapinn event page. Pre-registering gets you access to the event app (floorplan, exhibitor directory, ability to message booths in advance to schedule meetings). Walk-ups are allowed, but pre-registration is recommended so you can plan your booth visits.
Parking at the NEC: If you're driving, understand the costs upfront. Pre-booking saves you £5 a car. Book before midnight the day before you travel and you pay the advance rate. Current rates are:
The NEC is cashless—payment is by card or phone via their ANPR system. Pre-booking also means no queuing at ticket machines. Book at the NEC's official parking website before you travel.
Better deal: Use the train. The NEC is 5 minutes' walk (undercover) from Birmingham International Station. You can park for free at dozens of local stations (Berkswell, Hampton in Arden, Stetchford, Tile Hill, and others) and catch a return train to Birmingham International from as little as £2.30 per person return. The Air-Rail Link runs every two minutes and takes 90 seconds. Do the maths: £2.30 train vs £13.95–£18.95 parking makes sense if you're driving from outside Birmingham.
Postcode for sat nav: B40 1NT (NEC Birmingham, Marston Green). The show is in Halls 17–20. Opening times are 10am–5pm Tuesday to Thursday.
The Solar & Storage Live show is a sales event. It's not where you decide what to install. But it is where you see the market's actual direction—what companies are investing in, what installers are struggling with, and where the real volume is going.
This year, that direction is clear: battery storage is becoming grid infrastructure, not just a household convenience. AC coupling is the standard. Virtual Power Plants are the new frontier. Battery-only installations are real competition to solar. If you want to understand the UK energy transition, the show tells you what it actually looks like right now, unfiltered by YouTube reviews or manufacturer websites.
The key is going with a plan: know roughly what you're interested in, identify 10–15 companies you actually want to talk to, talk to installers about what works in practice, and be sceptical of anything that sounds too good to be honest. Most claims are real; some are roadmap. The difference is hard to spot in a one-minute conversation.
If you're a beginner in the market, half a day there beats half a day searching YouTube. You'll see the supply chain, meet installers, understand the real landscape, and spot where the money is actually flowing.
Just don't commit to anything at a booth. Listen, learn, ask hard questions, and make decisions later.
I'll be there Tuesday morning mapping what's actually moving. Look for a follow-up piece on what the show floor revealed about where battery storage, grid services, and the energy transition are really heading in 2026/2027.
Use these Decarbonarma tools to size your system or compare tariffs:
Solar & Storage Live UK 2026 runs 22–24 September at the NEC Birmingham. Registration is free. You'll need 3–4 hours to see something useful; most people spend the full day.