Alectrona
Commercial guideThe Distribution Network Operator owns the local grid your building plugs into, and a commercial solar array does not connect until they approve it.
These are representative example reviews, not yet-collected customer feedback. They are written to illustrate the kind of feedback Alectrona aims to earn and are shown as design placeholders while we gather and verify reviews from our first commercial clients. Alectrona is the commercial solar trading brand of RVTC LTD.
What set Alectrona apart was the documented design pack. We had quotes from three installers, but only Alectrona handed us a full set of drawings, a single-line diagram and a design referencing BS 7671 and the G99 connection process. The whole thing read like an engineering submission rather than a sales brochure. Our M&E consultant reviewed it and signed it off without a single query. That gave the board the confidence to release the capital.
Other firms priced our roof off a satellite image and a desktop guess. Alectrona flew an in-house drone survey, fully insured and flown by a qualified commercial drone pilot, and built a 3D model of the actual roof. It picked up plant, vents and a parapet line that a flat aerial photo had completely missed, which changed the panel layout. I would rather find that out at design stage than on the day the scaffold goes up. The accuracy of that survey is the reason I trusted everything that followed.
As a finance director I was wary of being oversold a system bigger than we could use. Alectrona modelled the array against our actual half-hourly consumption data rather than an annual total, so it is sized to what we genuinely draw on site during the day. They were honest that exporting surplus is worth far less than self-consumption, and built the design around that. The capital case stacked up because the engineering was honest, not because the numbers were inflated.
We were undecided between buying outright, leasing and a PPA. Alectrona laid out all three side by side with the pros and cons of each against our balance sheet, instead of pushing the one that pays them best. They were clear about where a PPA makes sense and where capex wins, and pointed us at our own accountant for the tax treatment. The survey and design took a little longer than I expected, but the thoroughness was worth the wait. Genuinely consultative.
The install crew were tidy and well run, and worked to a clear CDM 2015 plan with a proper site induction and RAMS. What impressed me most was the handover. We received a full commissioning pack with the IEC 62446-1 test results, certification, O&M documentation and an as-built record for our maintenance team. As the people who have to live with this asset for the next twenty years, having that paperwork in order matters enormously. Nothing was left loose.
I expected the usual hard sell and got the opposite. After surveying our site Alectrona told us one roof section was not worth covering because of shading, and that a smaller, well-sited array was the better investment than filling every square metre. There was no commission-driven upselling and no pressure. For a six-figure capital project, that straight talk is exactly what you want from the people advising you. We will be using them again on our second site.
OrientationThis is a plain-English orientation for a buyer, not formal advice; we confirm which DNO, route and connection terms apply to your specific site.
Every commercial solar project runs into the same gatekeeper. Before an array of any real size can export a single unit, the company that owns the wires feeding your site has to agree the local network can take it. That company is the Distribution Network Operator, the DNO.
For a finance or facilities director the DNO is easy to confuse with your electricity supplier, but they are different organisations doing different jobs. The supplier sells you energy and sends the bill. The DNO owns the physical cables, substations and transformers between the national grid and your meter, and they decide whether your generation can join their network. On a commercial system, that decision shapes the timeline, and sometimes the cost, of the whole project.
The DNO is the licensed operator of the local distribution network in your region: the medium and low-voltage cables, the substations, the transformers and the connection that brings power from the high-voltage transmission system down to your building. They do not generate electricity and they do not sell it. They run and maintain the wires.
Great Britain is split into regions, and each one has a single DNO responsible for its network. Several regional network operators own these licences between them, so the DNO you deal with is fixed by where your site sits, not by who you choose. You cannot shop around for a different one. This is a regulated regional model, overseen by the energy regulator, which is why the process for connecting generation is broadly consistent across the country even though the operator changes by region.
Your electricity supplier is the company on your bill. You can switch supplier whenever a contract lets you, because the supply market is competitive. The DNO is not part of that market. It is the regional owner of the physical network, and it stays the same no matter which supplier you use.
The distinction matters for solar because the two have separate roles in a project. The supplier handles the commercial side of any energy you import or export, including export payment arrangements. The DNO handles the technical question of whether the network can physically accept your generation, and under what conditions. A solar array is a generator connecting to their wires, so their permission comes first, and the supplier arrangements follow.
The regional owner of the physical network. A solar array is a generator connecting to their wires, so their permission comes first.
The company on your bill. You can switch supplier whenever a contract lets you, because the supply market is competitive.
Putting generation onto a shared network is not a neutral act. Your array pushes power back towards the grid at times, and the DNO has to be satisfied that doing so will not affect voltage, capacity or safety for you and for everyone else on the same local network. The larger the system, the more this matters. A commercial array, by its scale, sits above the size where a generator can simply be notified, so it goes through a formal connection process rather than a light-touch route. That formal route is set out in the grid framework as ENA Engineering Recommendation G99, which governs commercial connection and export, while the lighter notification route under G98 covers smaller systems.
That process means an application to the DNO, a technical assessment of your site against the network, and a connection agreement that sets out what you are allowed to connect and on what terms. Sometimes the network can take the full system with no changes. Sometimes the DNO sets an export limit, or identifies reinforcement work, that shapes the design. Either way, the array is engineered around their answer, so the application sits early in the project, not at the end. Which application route applies depends on your system's capacity and connection point, and we confirm it for your site rather than assume it.
The practical takeaway is that the DNO connection is a lead item, not a formality you tidy up before switch-on. The application and the agreement that follows take time, and the answer can influence system size, export arrangements and occasionally cost. We treat it as a parallel workstream alongside survey and design so it is not the thing that holds a project back.
We handle the DNO application for your site as part of the engineering package, including the technical detail the operator needs and the connection agreement that results. The specifics of which DNO applies, which application route fits your system, and what the network can accept are confirmed against your actual site rather than assumed from a regional average.
The regional model is a licence rather than an open market. A Distribution Network Operator holds an electricity distribution licence granted under the framework administered by the regulator, Ofgem. That licence gives one operator the exclusive right and the statutory duty to run the distribution network across a defined geographic area, which is why generation cannot be put out to tender between competing wire owners the way energy supply can. For sites across Yorkshire and northern and north-east Lincolnshire the licensed operator is Northern Powergrid, and that allocation follows the boundary of the licence area rather than any commercial preference.
The monopoly is balanced by regulated obligations. Because a single operator controls each network, Ofgem sets the price controls and connection obligations the operator must work within, under the price-control framework the regulator publishes for distribution networks. Those obligations govern how an operator must treat a connection request, the standards it must meet, and the principles behind the charges it can recover. The Energy Networks Association, the body representing the network operators, publishes the technical Engineering Recommendations that sit underneath this, so the connection rules an operator applies are common across the country even though the operator changes by region. The practical effect for a buyer is that the process is predictable in shape, and the operator you engage is settled the moment your site address is known.
The application is a technical submission, and the offer is the operator's formal answer. A commercial array applies to connect under the relevant ENA Engineering Recommendation, and the operator assesses that submission against the real state of the local network at your proposed point of connection. What comes back is a connection offer, a document that states the export capacity the operator will permit, any conditions attached to it, any network reinforcement it considers necessary, and the indicative cost and timescale that go with each of those. The mechanics of preparing and lodging that submission are set out in our G99 application guide.
An offer is time-bound, so it has to be read and acted on, not parked. A connection offer typically carries a fixed acceptance window and a price that holds only inside that window, which means leaving it open while other decisions catch up can let it lapse. Before anything is signed, the figures worth checking are the permitted export capacity against your modelled surplus, whether any reinforcement is attributed to your project specifically, the protection and metering obligations, and any commissioning conditions that gate switch-on. The export side that the offer governs is metered as set out in our half-hourly metering guide, and where the offer constrains export rather than reinforcing the network, the design route is covered in export limitation. We read the offer with you and translate its conditions into plain commercial terms before any capital is committed.
Network cost is a survey-led outcome that no price list can anticipate. Whether your connection carries a network charge depends on what the operator finds when it assesses your site against the local network. Sometimes the existing network can accept the full system with no changes. Sometimes the operator identifies reinforcement, which can mean upgrading a cable, a transformer or a substation, and on a constrained network can reach back to higher-voltage infrastructure. Where that work is required it carries a charge and a lead time, and both are specific to your connection point rather than something that can be quoted from a regional average. The principles that decide who pays for reinforcement and how those charges are calculated are set at industry level under Ofgem and applied by the operator, which for our region is Northern Powergrid.
Design choices can move a connection from reinforcement to acceptance. An export-limitation scheme can hold a site within the capacity the network already has, so a larger array can sometimes connect without waiting on or paying for reinforcement. That trade-off is set out in our network charges guide, and where the network is busy the position is also bound up with the grid connection queue. Because the network side is genuinely site-specific, we do not attach a figure to it in advance. How the connection outcome feeds into the wider project budget is handled in our commercial solar cost guide, where every number is built from your actual site rather than a table.
The route depends on capacity and connection point, and it is confirmed for your site. Generation connecting to the distribution network is assessed against thresholds set in the ENA Engineering Recommendations. A commercial array is large enough that it goes through the formal application route under G99 rather than the lighter notification process that covers smaller systems, and the depth of the assessment then scales with the size and connection voltage of the scheme. Rather than assume a threshold or a route from a regional average, we confirm which one applies against your actual system and connection point before any work is committed, because treating a regulatory boundary as settled when it has not been checked is exactly the kind of orientation error this guide exists to avoid.
You engage the operator through us as a managed workstream. RVTC LTD prepares and lodges the connection application for your site as part of the engineering package, including the technical detail Northern Powergrid needs, and we run it as a parallel workstream alongside survey and design so it does not become the item that holds a project back. When the offer returns we read it with you, check its capacity, conditions and any attributed reinforcement, and build the design around what the network can accept. As a commercial installer working above 50 kWp and outside the MCS scheme that applies to smaller domestic-scale systems, we assure the work through the non-MCS commercial stack rather than through MCS, and the DNO connection sits inside that same managed process from application through to the conditions that gate switch-on.
Our own insured pilot flies your roof and captures the real geometry and shading, so the design starts from your building instead of a satellite guess.
Booked to suit your operating hours
We model the array in bankable-grade software, size it around your daytime load, and set out generation, savings and payback across three funding routes.
Modelled, not promised
Designed and installed to BS 7671, commissioned to IEC 62446-1, connected under G99 and run under CDM 2015. Alectrona is typically the Principal Contractor.
Outside MCS, assured by the non-MCS stack
A 12-month defects period backed by an Insurance-Backed Guarantee, then ongoing operations and maintenance so the asset keeps earning for its full working life.
Kept performing, year on year
Last updated June 2026
No. Your supplier is the company on your bill, and you can switch supplier in a competitive market. The DNO owns the physical local network your building connects to, and it is fixed by your site's location. The supplier sells you energy; the DNO decides whether your generation can join its wires.
No. Great Britain is divided into regions, and each region has one DNO responsible for its network. The DNO that applies to your project is determined entirely by where your site is, so there is nothing to shop around for. The connection process is broadly consistent across operators because the model is regulated.
A solar array is a generator connecting to a shared network. When it exports, it pushes power back towards the grid, and the DNO has to confirm that doing so will not affect voltage, capacity or safety for your site or for others on the same local network. On a commercial system this means a formal connection application and agreement before the array goes live.
It can, if it is left late, which is why we run the application as a parallel workstream from early in the project rather than at the end. How long the DNO takes depends on the operator, the available network capacity and the size of your system, so the timescale is confirmed per site. We handle the application and build the design around the outcome.
Generation connecting to the network is assessed against thresholds set in the connection rules. A commercial array is large enough to go through the full application route, while some smaller systems can follow a lighter process. The route depends on your system's capacity and connection point, and we confirm which one applies against your actual site before any work is committed.
It can, but there is no standard figure. Whether your connection carries a charge depends on what the operator finds when it assesses your site against the local network, and any reinforcement cost is specific to your connection point. The principles are set under Ofgem and applied by Northern Powergrid. We size the connection survey-led and fold the outcome into the wider budget covered in our commercial solar cost guide, never a price from a table.
The offer states the export capacity the operator will permit, any conditions, any reinforcement it considers necessary, and the indicative cost and timescale for each. It typically carries a fixed acceptance window, and the price holds only inside that window, so it cannot be left open indefinitely. We read the offer with you, check capacity against your modelled surplus, and translate its conditions into plain commercial terms before anything is signed.
A guide can only take you so far. The figure you get is modelled from your own half-hourly load and a system sized from the on-site drone survey. No obligation, and systems this size sit outside the domestic MCS scheme, so the assurance is the engineering stack.