How much do sun-tracking solar panels cost? A 2026 guide

• A solar panel tracker ensures you’re getting the best out of your solar panels
• A single-axis tracker for a 3.5kWp system costs around £2,980
• Complete the form above to receive free solar panel quotes from our suppliers

If you want to make the most of your solar panels, you can enable them to follow the sun throughout the day with a solar panel tracker to ensure that the best angle and direction for solar panels is achieved.

Sun-tracking solar panels work the same way sunflowers work, by a process called heliotropism – constantly moving to face the sun.

This ensures that you can get the most out of your solar PV system, meaning you can increase its daily output by up to 35%.

Solar trackers are currently only available for ground-mounted solar panels, but with solar technology rapidly advancing, it will not be long before you can have one on your roof.

On this page, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about solar trackers, including the different types and average costs.

What’s on this page?

01 | What is a solar tracker system?

02 | Single-axis vs dual-axis trackers

03 | How much does a solar panel tracker cost?

04 | Should you buy a solar PV tracking system?

What is a solar tracker system?

It’s simple and convenient to set your solar panels in a fixed position, then leave them there.

If you’re living in the UK, panels should ideally be a) south-facing panels, b) tilted at about a 30-40° angle, and c) completely unobstructed by shade. If you’ve got this right, you’re already nailing solar power.

However, the Earth doesn’t stop spinning, which means the sun is always moving across the sky. As the sun travels from east to west, the optimum angle for your solar panels continually changes.

The solution: put your panels on a solar panel tracker, and they’ll gradually turn throughout the day, so that they are always directly facing the sun.

This keeps the angle at which sunlight hits your solar panels (known as “the angle of incidence”) as narrow as possible, and pushes the output of your solar panels to the best it could possibly be.

In most cases, a solar panel tracker can increase the performance of a solar panel by around 30-35%. Typical gains also vary depending on the time of year, with the summer months being the best time because the sun traverses a much bigger portion of the sky.

A solar tracker can function either passively or actively.

A passive solar tracker works on simple gas canisters that get heavier as they heat up, while an active solar tracker relies on a motor, gears, and a controller, so it’s a bit more expensive.

Want to learn how much solar panels will set you back? Take a look at our solar panel cost page.

Single-axis vs dual-axis trackers

How much freedom do you want your solar panels to have? If you’re thinking of buying a solar tracker, you’ll need to choose between two different types: single-axis or dual-axis.

As the name would suggest, a single-axis solar tracker operates on just one axis of movement, meaning it can follow the sun from east to west, but it cannot do anything else.

On the other hand, a dual-axis solar tracker takes that single axis and doubles it, allowing your solar panels to pivot from horizontal to vertical as well as east to west.

This means that, as the seasons change and the sun’s height gradually increases (in the summer) or decreases (in the winter), your panels can respond accordingly.

This function is very helpful if you live somewhere with a high line of latitude (such as the UK, Canada, New Zealand and so on), but it’s not very useful elsewhere.

A popular compromise is to use a single-axis solar tracker, and then manually alter the angle of your solar panels a couple of times each year.

In his guide to solar panel tilting, Charles Landau explains the optimum summer and winter angles for solar panels, along with the ideal time for changing them.

How much does a solar panel tracker cost?

The cost of single-axis solar tracking is £0.85 per watt.

Based on this estimate, here is how much it would cost to mount a typical solar PV system on a single-axis tracker, ranging from a 1 kilowatt-peak (kWp) to a 4kWp system.

1kWp£8502kWp£1,7013kWp£2,5524kWp£3,403

Price estimates updated in January 2023

If you were to mount a 3.5kWp solar PV system (costing around £7,860) on a single-axis tracker, it would cost you around £2,980. This means that a single-axis tracker generally costs about 35% of the total cost of your solar panels.

Should you buy a solar tracker?

Unless you own a large, commercial-scale array of solar panels, it’s probably not worth buying a solar panel tracker. In real terms, a 35% output gain is hugely significant when it’s applied to a 100kWp system, but not so much when it comes to residential solar panels. Panels on a tracker are also more likely to require planning permission.

Given that the cost of solar panels has fallen by around 6–8% every year since 2010, the cheapest way to increase your household’s supply of solar power is simply to buy more solar panels. Solar PV systems are easily scalable, so it’s not difficult to add extra panels, and you can always opt for one of the most efficient solar panels.

Plus, now is an excellent time to go solar, with our latest National Home Energy Survey revealing that 65% of people are likely to buy a house with solar panels.

Fortunately, we can help you with the next step. To find out how much it will cost you to install new solar panels at home, simply enter your details here, and our qualified installers will be in touch with free quotes.

Written By

Charlie Clissitt Editor

Raised in the rolling hills of North Yorkshire and now based in the murky streets of London, Charlie has been researching and writing about the home energy market since 2017. He has been the editor of The Eco Experts since 2021, and his thoughts on energy have seen him featured in various publications, including The Times, Ideal Home, and Grand Designs Magazine. Charlie regularly attends Grand Designs Live as a ‘Green Living expert’, advising homeowners all over the UK about how to make their property more eco-friendly.

Charlie’s particular specialism is solar panels; how they’re made, how they work, how they look, and whether they have a future in the UK (they do). If he’s not cornering one of his parents’ friends in the kitchen asking them why they don’t have solar panels yet, he’s cornering someone else and talking about solar batteries.

Charlie dreams of one day owning a solar PV system – he just needs a house first.

You can contact Charlie via email at charlie.clissitt@theecoexperts.co.uk.

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Maximilian Schwerdtfeger Deputy editor

Max joined The Eco Experts as content manager in February 2024 and became deputy editor in 2025. He has written about sustainability issues across numerous industries, including maritime, supply chain, finance, mining, and retail. He has also written extensively for consumer titles like City AM, The Morning Star, and The Daily Express.

He has represented The Eco Experts on national television several times, including the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live and ITV Tonight .

In 2020, he covered in detail the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) legislation on sulphur emissions and its effects on the global container shipping market as online editor of Port Technology International.

He also explored the initiatives major container ports and terminals have launched in order to ship vital goods across the world without polluting the environment.

Since then, he has reported heavily on the impact made by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices on the supply chain of minerals, with a particular focus on rare earth mining in Africa.

As part of this, in 2022 Max visited mines and ports in Angola to hone in on the challenges being faced by one of the world’s biggest producers of rare earth minerals.

His most recent sustainability-related work came much closer to home, as he investigated the eco-challenges faced by independent retailers in the UK, specifically looking at how they can cut emissions and continue to thrive.

Max lives in South London and is an avid reader of books on modern history. He has also recently learned to play the game Mahjong and takes every opportunity to do so. He is also yet to find a sport he doesn’t enjoy watching.

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