Spirit was founded by Erica Charles, a mathematician who returned to Oxford in her 30’s to complete a Masters on the maximisation of photon capture by solar panels. Anyway, the maths taught her that a well-designed and well-installed solar system will generate a considerably superior return on investment compared to one where insufficient attention has been applied to the design details.
That ethos continues today with Spirit’s commitment to recruiting the finest engineers and installers and providing them with the best in-house technical training that the industry can offer… regardless of the cost…
-Ian Charles, Financial Director
These Reading homeowners approached Spirit Energy in early 2025 with a relatively standard pitched tile roof and an ambitious brief. The household was at the start of a full electrification programme: a Tesla Model 3 already on the drive, gas heating about to be replaced with an air source heat pump, and electricity demand on a steep upward trajectory.
The right solar panel for a UK home depends on your roof, not on a ranked list.
A standard pitched tiled roof calls for maximum efficiency per square metre; a shaded roof needs back-contact cell technology that handles partial shade without losing a third of its output; a small roof may need a high-voltage panel just to turn the inverter on in winter. Spirit Energy's design team specifies panels based on roof type and constraints first, and across more than 6,000 installations across England, that approach is what separates a well-performing system from an average one.
