Get started with Finance Marketplace

Summary

Finance Marketplace lets homeowners compare and apply for finance from your OpenSolar proposal, including Warm Homes Loan Scheme-supported options when eligible. You do not need to become a credit broker. Point customers to the marketplace; they choose and apply themselves.

For Propensio and Selina WHLS products, that includes solar PV, electrical battery storage, and heat pumps. You can also include an EV chargepoint as an ancillary on a solar or battery job (bundled into the solar measure if solar is present, or into battery on a battery-only job). Other scheme upgrades such as biomass, heat network connections, and domestic wind or micro-hydro can still be quoted when the job qualifies. Solar and storage remain the main path in OpenSolar.

This guide covers the steps to start using it on live jobs.

Activate Finance Marketplace
When Warm Homes Loan Scheme products appear
Quote solar, storage, or other eligible upgrades
Prepare an itemised quotation
Share the proposal and stay out of the credit decision
After the customer applies

1. Activate Finance Marketplace

Many UK organisations are already connected. If you can already see Marketplace lenders under Payment Options, skip to Step 2.

Connect lenders

Go to Control → Pricing & Payments → Payment Options.
In the UK Finance Marketplace section, connect the lenders you want to offer.
- Propensio: Learn More → Connect Propensio. Approvals typically arrive by email and in-app notification within 2 business days. Full steps: Propensio Finance.
- Selina: Connect Selina. Full steps: Selina Finance.
Your organisation needs to be MCS accredited. That is a requirement for current Marketplace lenders.
Recalculate existing projects (save / refresh calculations) so Marketplace appears on proposals created before activation.

There is no installer fee to use Finance Marketplace. You do not need FCA authorisation to make it available.

Make sure it shows on the job

Marketplace is attached to cash payment options, not as a separate finance payment option you sell.

Organisation: toggle Marketplace lenders on or off in Payment Options.
Project: on the job, open Payments (or Design → Pricing) and keep a cash payment option on the system with Marketplace enabled. Recalculate after you add it.

CashFlow is not required for Marketplace on a Studio solar job. CashFlow with Optimized Checkout is the better workflow: if the homeowner changes how much they will pay out of pocket, OpenSolar can add a payment milestone for the remaining amount. Without CashFlow, you manage that difference yourself.

Quick Quote (the path for most non-solar WHLS jobs) does require CashFlow. Start a Quick Quote from Home.

2. When Warm Homes Loan Scheme products appear

Warm Homes Loan Scheme (WHLS) is UK Government support that helps participating lenders offer lower-cost finance for eligible home energy upgrades. The government does not lend to the homeowner. Lenders still make the credit decision.

In OpenSolar, WHLS is not a separate button. Supported products appear in Finance Marketplace when the job and customer qualify. If they do not, standard Marketplace products can still appear.

Jobs that can show WHLS-supported products

OpenSolar only shows WHLS-supported products when the project matches what the lender can accept. In practice that means:

A residential job in England, Wales or Scotland
Your organisation is MCS-accredited and connected to the lender in Payment Options
The amount to be financed sits within that measure’s scheme loan cap (see below)

Propensio and Selina WHLS products can cover the eligible upgrade types below, not only solar and storage. That includes adding panels, or adding a battery to existing PV.

The scheme itself covers the whole UK. OpenSolar currently shows WHLS-supported products for installations in England, Wales or Scotland.

WHLS-supported products will not appear for commercial jobs, ineligible locations, or jobs that cannot be brought within the loan caps.

Eligible upgrades and loan caps

Names and caps below follow the Warm Homes Loan Scheme Rules (September 2026). Caps include eligible installation, labour, and ancillary costs for that measure.

Marketplace applies the cap for the measure on the job. If the relevant measure costs more than the cap, Marketplace raises the deposit so the financed amount stays within the cap. If that deposit would exceed the lender’s maximum deposit, WHLS products are hidden for that job. Standard Marketplace products may still be available.

Eligible measure	Scheme loan cap	What the scheme includes
Solar PV	£15,000	New rooftop solar, including extra panels on an existing system. Scaffolding, temporary safety equipment, grid connection, and an EV chargepoint can sit in the cap. Replacement roofing and other structural work cannot.
Electrical battery storage	£15,000	Standalone batteries, or a battery paired with solar PV. An EV chargepoint can sit in this cap on a battery-only job.
Solar PV and battery together	£30,000	£15,000 per measure, not a single combined cap.
Air-to-water heat pumps	£20,000	Typical ancillaries include necessary radiators, pipework, and water tanks. Insulation is not funded. Must not replace an existing heat pump.
Ground source heat pumps	£35,000	Includes water source heat pumps and shared ground loops. Must not replace an existing heat pump.
Biomass boilers	£20,000	Rural properties only, and only where the applicant is already receiving a BUS or equivalent devolved heat-pump/biomass grant.
Heat network connections	£7,500	Domestic connection to an existing or planned low-carbon heat network. These connections are exempt from the MCS-installer rule in the scheme.
Micro-renewables	£20,000	Domestic wind turbines and micro-hydroelectric systems only.

Not currently eligible: air-to-air heat pumps. They appear in the scheme rules with a £10,000 cap, but they cannot be MCS certified yet, so they cannot be financed under WHLS until BUS and MCS standards catch up.

EV chargepoints are not a standalone WHLS measure. You can still include an OZEV-approved chargepoint on a solar and/or battery job: the scheme treats it as an ancillary cost inside that measure’s cap. OpenSolar does not create a separate EV WHLS product. Day 1, the charger cost is bundled automatically:

If the job has solar, the EV charger is included in the solar measure, even if a battery is also on the system.
If the job is battery only, the EV charger is included in the battery measure.

A charger on its own, with no solar or battery, is not eligible. Borrowers who already received an OZEV (or other) grant for that chargepoint cannot put it on a WHLS loan.

You should not promise a WHLS rate, term, or approval. Availability depends on the homeowner, the project, and the participating lender. Products, rates, and application steps can differ by lender.

What the homeowner will be asked

For WHLS-supported applications, the lender — not you — collects the customer’s confirmations. Typical statements include that they are the homeowner or PRS landlord (not a tenant), the property is residential, and they are not using another public grant or loan for the same work. Heat pumps must not replace an existing heat pump; adding solar panels or a battery to an existing system is allowed.

Do not recommend a lender, product, or repayment term. Do not walk the customer through which box to tick.

3. Quote solar, storage, or other eligible upgrades

OpenSolar recognises WHLS measures from what is on the job with a cost. If the measure is not indicated this way, it will not flow through as a financed WHLS measure, even if you mention it in notes or the cover message.

Give hardware a cost in Modules, Inverters, Batteries, and Other Components. See How to Set Up and Manage Your Hardware Preferences.

How to indicate each measure

Solar PV. Design modules in Studio as usual and give them a cost. To add panels to an existing system, see How to design on an existing system (Retrofit).

Electrical battery storage. Add a battery from your Batteries list, with a cost. Standalone battery jobs are eligible; so is a battery paired with solar.

EV chargepoints. Add the charger on the design from Other Components, with a cost, the same way you would today. You do not need a separate WHLS indication for it. OpenSolar folds that cost into solar if solar is present, or into battery on a battery-only job. Do not quote an EV charger as a standalone WHLS job.

Heat pumps. Use one of these two paths, and make sure the line has a cost:

Preferred: add an Other Component whose category is Heat Pump.
Alternative: add an Adder whose type is HVAC. Create it in the Adders Library. This path is looser — HVAC can include work that is not a WHLS heat pump — so only use it when the adder really is the heat pump (and eligible ancillaries such as radiators, pipework, and tanks). See How to create adders in your organization.

Do not rely on naming a line “heat pump” if the component is categorised as something else, or if the adder type is not HVAC.

Biomass, heat network connections, domestic wind, and micro-hydro. Include them on the quote with a cost (Other Components or a priced adder in the Adders Library). OpenSolar does not yet have a dedicated WHLS category for these, separate from heat pump / HVAC. Treat OpenSolar as the quote and finance handoff, not the design authority.

Where to build the quote

Studio for solar, storage, and heat pumps on a design project, then itemised quotation (Step 4). Start from Home.
Quick Quote for a non-solar or heat-pump-only job with no solar design. From Home, switch the project flow to Quick Quote. Attach a cash payment option so Marketplace can appear. Quick Quote requires CashFlow. If the job includes a heat pump, still use a Heat Pump Other Component or an HVAC adder with a cost — not an uncategorised line item.

4. Prepare an itemised quotation

Scheme rules require a valid installer quote with an itemised cost breakdown of all improvements — not a single system price. That applies to solar, storage, heat pumps, and any other WHLS work you quote. Lenders use that breakdown to see what sits in each measure’s cap. A lump-sum quote is not enough.

On a Studio design, OpenSolar fills the table from hardware on the job. You choose Itemised as the quotation format and tidy the wording. On Quick Quote, you build the same kind of breakdown as priced line items.

Itemised quotations are useful on any job where a customer or lender needs a line-by-line breakdown, not only WHLS work. This section covers the WHLS-ready path. For the full walkthrough — including editing lines, roles and costing visibility, dealer fees, and troubleshooting — see Itemised quotations.

Prepare once in Control (admin)

Do this so quotes build themselves on real jobs.

Add component costs (COGS) in Modules, Inverters, Batteries, and Other Components. Unit cost is what OpenSolar uses to calculate markup on each line. The customer never sees cost or markup. See How to Set Up and Manage Your Hardware Preferences.
Check Cost Schemes and Price Schemes so new jobs start from the right totals. See How to Set Up Pricing & Payment Options.
Review what auto-applies. Messy auto-apply means a messy quote.
- Adders — customer-friendly names; only auto-apply what you want on most jobs. For a WHLS heat pump via the adder path, set the type to HVAC and give it a cost. See How to create adders in your organization.
Check Payment Options. On the job, Price breakdown for chooses which payment option the itemised quote is showing. Visible lines must sum to Purchase Price. Finance interest stays on the payment option, not in the goods table.

On the project

Design as usual (or start a Quick Quote from Home). Modules, inverter, battery, mounting, EV charger, heat pump, and other priced components become quotation lines automatically.

Open Pricing.
Choose the payment option in Price breakdown for.
Set Quotation format to Itemised.

Rename lines, change qty/tax/price, and add extras that belong on the quote (scaffolding, DNO, labour). Preview the online proposal and PDF before you share. Purchase Price must equal the visible lines. No cost or markup should appear for the customer.

Summary and Show battery price on proposal still work as today. Use Itemised for scheme-ready quotes.

If a line is missing, an unexpected extra appears, or markup looks empty, the cause is usually hardware without a cost, an auto-applied adder/incentive/commission, or a role that cannot see costing. Work through that in Itemised quotations.

5. Share the proposal and stay out of the credit decision

Your job is to make finance available, not to arrange it.

Homeowners can open Finance Marketplace from:

The online proposal payment / finance section. See Navigating the proposal and Finance Marketplace
Optimized Checkout Explore Finance, when CashFlow checkout is on
A share link, share email, or QR from the project. See How to use Shareable Proposal Links

They compare available options themselves, including monthly payment, term, APR and total repayable, then click Apply on the option they want. Some lenders host the application in OpenSolar. Others redirect to their own site. Quotes at this stage are indicative and can change during underwriting.

What to say

“You’ll see Finance Marketplace in your proposal if you’d like to explore payment options.”
“We don’t arrange finance. You can review third-party options there if it’s useful.”

What not to do

Do not recommend a lender, product, or repayment term
Do not say which option is best
Do not imply the homeowner will be approved
Do not imply finance is always cheaper than paying cash
Do not walk them through the application

Keep the sales conversation on the system, performance, and installation. The customer stays in control of the finance decision.

6. After the customer applies

Application, decision, and payout depend on the lender.

Propensio Finance — in-app application, decision in Marketplace, then confirm installation complete from the project Manage tab. For WHLS-supported Propensio loans you will also need the property MPAN at install confirmation.
Selina Finance — customer is redirected to Selina; funds are paid to the homeowner, who then pays you on your cash milestones. CashFlow is the recommended way to collect those payments.

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