Keir Starmer’s Labour government is said to have unveiled plans for a “rooftop revolution” today that will see millions more homes fitted with solar panels in order to bring down domestic energy bills and tackle the climate crisis.
Ed Miliband, who is the energy secretary, also took the hugely controversial decision this weekend to approve three massive solar farms in the east of England that had been blocked by Tory ministers.
According to available reports, the three sites alone – Gate Burton in Lincolnshire, Sunnica’s energy farm on the Suffolk-Cambridgeshire border and Mallard Pass on the border between Lincolnshire and Rutland – will deliver about two-thirds of the solar energy installed on rooftops and on the ground in the whole of last year.
Now, before Wednesday’s king’s speech, which will include legislation for setting up the new publicly owned energy company GB Energy, ministers are working with the building industry to make it easier to buy new homes with panels installed, or instal them on existing ones.
Ministers are looking at bringing in solar-related standards for new-build properties from next year.
At present, while formal planning permission is not required, there are restrictions on where and how high up on buildings they can be placed. There are also restrictions in conservation areas and on listed buildings. These may also be re-examined.
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Miliband, who has promised to triple the amount of solar power in the UK by 2030, as well as double onshore wind and quadruple offshore wind, said on Saturday night: “I want to unleash a UK solar rooftop revolution. We will encourage builders and homeowners in whatever way we can to deliver this win-win technology to millions of addresses in the UK so people can provide their own electricity, cut their bills and at the same time help fight climate change.”
His officials insisted the new government was showing its willingness to “take on the Nimbys” as part of the fight against the climate crisis.
As one of his first acts last week, Miliband lifted the Tories’ de facto ban on the building of new onshore windsfarms.
Miliband’s rapid moves on solar power were welcomed by UK energy experts, who said they would speedily rectify a huge imbalance in the use of renewable energy in Britain.
At present, most power from renewable sources is concentrated in the north but has to be transmitted to the south, where demand is most intense. “Unfortunately, these transmission lines are congested and power supplies from the north to the south are often curtailed,” said Sugandha Srivastav, of Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and Environment.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
