MCS has welcomed an opportunity to co-lead a project on improving the visibility of distributed energy assets, according to a standards news item dated 12th December 2025 on its working groups page1. The page gives no further detail on the project, its partners, its scope or its funding, and none of these has been reported1.
MCS describes its Technical Working Groups as playing a key role in making sure its Standards are relevant, rigorous, technically accurate and updated or developed in response to changes in market conditions and technological advancements1. The groups are made up of more than 200 experts from across the sector, including contractors, installers, manufacturers, trade associations, certification bodies, consumer groups, educators, and independent specialists1. There are nine Technical Working Groups, spanning the different technologies MCS covers, and they meet regularly1.
The nine groups are1:
| Working Group |
|---|
| Battery Storage |
| Biomass |
| Heat Pump |
| Micro CHP |
| Solar Mounting |
| Solar Heating |
| Solar PV |
| Small Wind |
| Thermal Energy Storage Systems (TESS) |
MCS facilitates the activity of the Technical Working Groups, conducts research on industry developments and their potential impact, and analyses updates to standards that are referenced in its documents1. David Heath, Independent Chair of Standards, said:
"MCS Standards are absolutely integral to the success of small-scale renewables, as they give consumers confidence in home-grown energy, which is so crucial in driving uptake."
The same page lists other standards news, including implementation of air-to-air heat pumps into MCS entering its next phase, dated 8th September 2026; the end of a grace period for affected solar mounting products, dated 10th August 2026; a grace period for solar PV products announced ahead of implementation of four updated product standards, dated 30th July 2026; comments from Ian Rippin on the future of consumer protection for small-scale renewables, dated 22nd June 2026; and an update to MIS 3002, dated 18th March 20261. The page does not explain the relationship between these dates and the 12th December 2025 item1.
Why it matters for households
Distributed energy assets are the small-scale generating and storage equipment installed at homes and businesses, such as solar panels, batteries and heat pumps. Visibility of those assets means knowing where they are, what they can do and how they behave on the network. For a household with its own generation or storage, that visibility sits behind questions about how such equipment is registered, monitored and counted, and how standards for it are set. The regulation-policy hub covers the wider framework in which these arrangements sit.
MCS Standards are the benchmark against which small-scale renewables installations are certified, and the working groups are the route through which industry input reaches those Standards. The page states that their input ensures MCS Standards are created by industry, for industry1. A project on asset visibility therefore touches the same set of arrangements that determine how home energy equipment is documented and recognised.
What happens next
The page states that industry members can register an interest in joining a working group by emailing the MCS team, and that the full Terms of Reference set out the governance, scope and objectives of the groups1. No start date, duration or output has been reported for the distributed energy assets project1.
Sources1 cited
- MCS Working Groups - MCS, mcscertified.com