Think tank Ember said that solar and air conditioning have similar seasonal patterns, meaning that when the need for cooling hits, solar is likely to be generating at a high level.

“Air conditioning is becoming more urgent for households as the climate warms. As rooftop solar gets more and more popular to reign in energy bills and cut oil and gas use, this can complement the new need for cooling in British summers,” said Frankie Mayo, the author of a new Ember report.

The British think tank said that the UK grid can benefit from increased demand for air conditioning at high solar generation hours. A new service, the ‘Demand Flexibility Service’ is to be used to reward consumers for increasing electricity use during these periods.

“Even for households without rooftop solar, flexibility payments mean a wider pool of consumers can benefit by increasing demand during reward periods, including through the use of air conditioning,” said Ember. 

According to Ember, UK households with rooftop solar are powering the equivalent of five hours of air conditioning a day.

UK homes are currently installing rooftop solar at the fastest ever annual rate. Over 2.5 GW of solar was installed in both 2024 and 2025, whereas 2.5 GW in total was installed in the five years from 2017 and 2021. This is happening without government subsidies for rooftop installations, unlike the UK’s first solar development boom from 2010-2016.