What the MCS Data Dashboard shows

It is the most comprehensive repository of data on the uptake of small-scale renewable technologies across the UK, and it provides a dynamic view of every certified installation since 2009³. The technologies that can be monitored include solar PV and heat pumps, and the dashboard covers around 60% of heat pumps used in residential space heating installations¹.

The dashboard is divided into two sections, Installation Insights and Scheme Insights, and both can be filtered by month, year, location, technology type and installation type¹. It is free and open to the public, with no restrictions on who can see the information, and it had surpassed 6,000 users by May 2026¹.

What the MCS Data Dashboard is and what it shows

The dashboard is an interactive online tool that gives a dynamic view of every certified installation since 2009, and MCS describes it as still counting⁴. It sits on top of the MCS Installations Database, usually shortened to the MID, which holds information on more than 1.4 million installations⁶. The MID is the underlying record: the dashboard is the public window onto it.

Its stated purpose is to track growth in the industry, and MCS positions it as the most comprehensive repository of data on the uptake of small-scale renewable technologies across the UK⁷. That claim rests on the fact that registration on the MID is not optional for the technologies in scope. For heat pumps, the requirement to be registered on the MID also means that installations are MCS certified, so the database captures the certified market rather than a sample of it⁸.

The dashboard is also supported by a glossary, which provides definitions and explanations of key terms related to the tool⁹. That matters for anyone reading the figures cold: the terms used in the charts have specific meanings, and the glossary is where MCS sets them out.

For a household, the dashboard is a way of seeing what has actually been installed around the country, rather than what has been announced or modelled. It does not tell a household what to buy or who to use, and it does not measure performance of installed systems. It records certified installations. That distinction is the key to reading it: the dashboard is a deployment record, not a performance record.

What it covers: solar PV and heat pumps, with around 60% of heat pump installations

The technologies that can be monitored using the data include solar PV and heat pumps, described by MCS as growing technologies across the United Kingdom¹. The heat pump coverage figure is the one to hold on to: the dashboard covers around 60% of heat pumps used in residential space heating installations⁵. That is a coverage estimate, not a count, and it means a substantial minority of heat pumps in homes sit outside the dataset the dashboard draws on.

The reason for the gap is the boundary of the scheme. MCS certification is what puts an installation into the MID, and the MID is the source for the dashboard. Official heat pump deployment statistics published by government take their figures from the MCS Installation Database, so the same boundary applies to those numbers¹⁰. Where an installation was not certified under MCS, it does not appear.

Other official statistics draw on the same database but slice it differently. Ofgem's Feed in Tariff quarterly statistics cover the number of solar photovoltaic, wind and micro combined heat and power installations registered on the MCS database¹¹. Domestic battery installation statistics cover domestic and existing installations, with new data for the period April 2025 to March 2026 and no data available before September 2023¹². Those are separate releases rather than dashboard views, but they show how far the underlying MID reaches.

For a household, the practical reading is that the dashboard is strong on certified solar PV and certified heat pumps, and that its heat pump view is partial by roughly two fifths. A household looking at local uptake figures should treat them as a floor on certified activity rather than a complete census of every renewable heating system in the area.

Installation Insights and Scheme Insights: the two sections

The dashboard is divided into two sections: Installation Insights and Scheme Insights¹. They answer different questions, and the distinction is worth understanding before using either.

Installation Insights covers the installations themselves. Phase 3 added a Capacity graph to the Installation Cost section, showing total installed capacity¹³. That gives a view of how much capacity has been installed, alongside the cost information already in that section.

Scheme Insights enables users to compare the growth of different technology types and shines a light on the contractor base installing them¹⁴. Phase 2 had already added the ability for users to view changes to the overall base of MCS certified contractors over time since 2008¹⁴. So Scheme Insights is where the supply side of the market sits: how many certified contractors there are, and how that base has changed.

Installer information sits in a separate dataset, which includes company address details, certification dates, operating regions covered and technologies they are certified for². That dataset is distinct from the dashboard's installation views, and it is the reference point for anyone checking what a particular contractor is certified to do.

For a household, Installation Insights is the section that shows what has been installed and where, and Scheme Insights is the section that shows whether there is a certified contractor base in the area to do the work. Neither section recommends an installer.

Filters, exports and how to use the dashboard

Both sections can be filtered by month, year, location, technology type and installation type¹. Phase 3 describes the filter dimensions as year, month, technology, property type, and location¹³. The two lists overlap but are not identical: one names installation type, the other property type. Both descriptions come from MCS, and the difference reflects how the tool has been described at different points rather than a conflict in what it does.

Image and data exports are available for download from each visualisation¹. Downloads from the dashboard carry a unique ID and timestamps¹³. That means a chart pulled from the dashboard can be traced back to the point at which it was taken, which matters when figures are revised later.

For anyone needing more than the dashboard shows, MCS can make arrangements to grant access to raw data from the MID to support projects geared towards Net Zero goals². That is a separate route from the public dashboard, and it is aimed at projects rather than individual households.

The dashboard also sits within a wider push on data visibility. MCS has responded to consultation on improving visibility of distributed energy assets, and has welcomed the opportunity to co-lead a project on the same subject¹⁵. The MID is described as enabling insights from legacy installations, supporting local grid modelling, and underpinning system planning and flexibility market participation¹⁶. A single point of data entry is part of that direction of travel¹⁵.

How up to date the data is: near-real-time updates every 24 hours

The dashboard is designed to provide near-real-time updates on MID data, and MCS describes it as providing near-real-time updates on MCS certified installations for small-scale renewables across the UK². That is the timeliness claim, and it is the reason the tool is used for tracking a market that moves month by month.

Near-real-time is not the same as live, and the underlying data is not static. Some data has been revised for September 2023 to March 2025 because more data was added to the MCS installation database¹². Revisions of that kind are normal in administrative datasets: records are added, corrected or completed after first publication, and earlier figures move.

The dashboard is not the only tool in this space with a stated update cycle. The Find a Trusted Tradesperson tool states that its website is updated every 24 hours¹⁸. Smart meter in-home displays update in near real-time for electricity and every half hour for gas, and are described as giving near real-time data on energy use¹⁹. Those are different tools with different purposes, but they show that update frequency is a stated property of consumer-facing energy data tools rather than something a user has to infer.

For a household, the practical consequence is that a figure read from the dashboard today may differ from the same figure read in a few months, because the record behind it has been added to. The dashboard is best read as a current best view of certified activity, not as a fixed historical series.

Why some installation data is missing

A small proportion of MCS installation data is disregarded, mainly due to invalid address details¹. The dashboard also excludes installations commissioned in 2008 due to minimal data available in that year¹. Those are the two stated exclusions, and they explain why the dashboard's totals will not match a simple count of every certificate ever issued.

The quality of what remains depends on what installers enter. By entering these details, installers are making a declaration that the information is true, accurate, and adheres to MCS standards for MID data entry⁷. That declaration is the basis on which the data is published, and it is why data quality is treated as a scheme issue rather than a purely technical one.

MCS has been working on the certification side as well. Following consultation, the scheme is set to focus more on how installers deliver quality to consumers, rather than administrative checks²¹. The stated aim is a scheme that is simpler and more rewarding but just as robust²¹.

For a household, the missing-data question has a practical edge. If a household cannot find its own installation on a local view, the likely explanations are an invalid address record, an installation outside the certified scope, or a record that has not yet been added. MCS is the contact for issues with the installation process, the installer, or an MCS certificate or product²².

Who runs the MCS scheme and what it certifies

MCS is an independent certification scheme for microgeneration installation companies and products²³. It certifies, quality assures and provides consumer protection for microgeneration installations and installers, and for small-scale renewable electricity technologies such as solar photovoltaic panels, biomass, wind, heat pumps and heat products²⁴. Its stated purpose is to ensure consistent standards and provide confidence to consumers²².

Certification carries conditions. A requirement of companies wanting to gain MCS certification is that they are members of a CTSI Approved Consumer Code of Practice scheme in the first instance²⁵. Product certification, separately, ensures compliance with UK regulations²⁶.

The scheme's requirements have limits that bear on what the dashboard can tell a household. Weather compensation is not mandatory under current requirements of the Microgeneration Certification Scheme, and third party non-modulating controls are not prohibited¹⁷. MCS requires installers to provide a design-stage prediction of system efficiency, not verify actual performance, and does not require remediation of systems that are underperforming relative to their design¹⁷.

MCS can be contacted at mcscertified.com or by calling 0333 103 8130, and may contact property owners for a short, routine verification on behalf of Ofgem either by email or phone on 0333 103 8198²⁷. Property owners contacted for MCS checks should aim to respond within seven days²⁷.

What the dashboard means for household energy independence

The dashboard is a transparency tool, not an independence tool. It does not generate a unit of electricity or a kilowatt of heat, and it does not change what a household draws from the grid or buys from a supplier. What it does is make the certified deployment record visible, which is the evidence base a household can use to see how common solar PV and heat pumps have become in its area.

The dependence it leaves in place is worth stating plainly. The dashboard depends on the MID, the MID depends on installer data entry, and installer data entry depends on certification. Where an installation is not certified, it is not in the record. Where an address is invalid, the record is disregarded. And the heat pump view covers around 60% of heat pumps used in residential space heating installations, so roughly two fifths of that market sits outside the figure⁵.

For a household weighing up an installation, the dashboard answers a narrow question well: how many certified installations of this type exist, in this place, in this period. It does not answer whether a system performs as designed, because MCS does not verify actual performance against the design-stage prediction¹⁷. It does not rank installers, and it does not recommend a technology. It shows the certified market as recorded, with its exclusions stated, and leaves the judgement to the reader.