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Rooftop solar
Pledge your support for Ed Miliband to get smart on solar
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband borrowed our campaign slogan when he promised to ‘unleash a solar rooftop revolution’ – but now we need to see action. It’s time to get smart on solar.
Let’s unlock the potential that millions of our roofs have for solar – on suitable new homes, existing commercial buildings and large car parks – and protect our countryside at the same time.
We need a rapid transition to clean power to tackle the climate emergency. And solar power is a key part of the energy mix. But right now, a vast amount of potential space for solar is being wasted – our rooftops. And we’re faced with the threat of mega solar damaging natural landscapes and farmland.
Let’s turn these dead zones into power zones.
With a raft of planning reform going on right now, here’s our checklist to fast forward the ‘rooftop revolution’
1. Power up our homes
The government should push its ambition to end the housing crisis even further and bake-in rooftop solar on new build homes.
We’ve already secured a campaign win with the government now planning for solar panels to be fitted on all new-build homes in England by 2027. We think this should include affordable and social rent homes because rooftop solar cuts bills as well as carbon.
We also want to see:
- Improvements to the system that allows and incentivises households to sell the energy they generate through rooftop solar back to the grid – the ‘Smart Export Guarantee‘.
- Improve and expand ‘Power Purchase Agreements‘, which enable homeowners to get rooftop solar installed for free in exchange for long-term agreements with clean energy suppliers.
- A streamlined planning process that includes fewer steps if people want to install rooftop solar.
Combined with other smart energy systems, such as heat pumps, every UK home has the potential to be a clean energy powerhouse.
2. Brighten up big roofspaces
The roofs of warehouses and car parks, along with schools, hospitals and supermarkets, represent a huge amount of wasted space. Retrofitting these large-scale roofs with solar panels will help us meet net zero targets, reduce costs for businesses and allow our countryside to play its vital role as carbon sink, home for nature, and source of our food.
We’re calling for:
- Government-backed low-cost loans for domestic, commercial and community rooftop solar to fast-forward a retrofitting revolution.
- Reformed planning rules so that car parks must be installed with solar panels, as in France for car parks with 80+ cars.
- Joint working between the government and National Grid to ensure additional grid capacity to allow rooftop solar to benefit not only building occupants but to export to others.
3. Make best use of our finite land
Taking climate action doesn’t have to come at the expense of a thriving countryside. We want the government to ensure that solar developments avoid our most beautiful and tranquil landscapes as well as our best farmland that grows the food on our tables – 60% of which is already threatened with flooding.
We don’t want to see mega solar farms that swamp and transform the character of rural places, because there is another way to reach our shared clean power goals – let’s get more of that solar on roofs instead.
Right now, we have opportunities to influence how plans for the strategic use of our land are made, through the Land Use Framework agenda and the spatial energy plans that are in development.
The only just transition to net zero is one that has empowered communities at its heart, whose voices are heard and whose suggestions are taken seriously. Meaningful dialogue helps deliver clean energy faster; it makes sense for developers as well as communities. It will help to ensure the clean power mission will be a shared national mission.
We want to see:
- Planning policy make sure that the best and most versatile agricultural land (grades 1,2,3a) isn’t used for solar.
- Improved community engagement early on in the planning of large infrastructure projects, known as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs).
As the government delivers more homes and the National Grid upgrades the transmission network for clean power, we’ll be shouting from the rooftops for solar energy that’s climate-resilient and cuts sky-high bills.
Our previous reports
Other useful links
- All you need to know about the Sunshine Bill
- Community Energy Visioning – showcasing renewables done well
- Opinion: A fair deal for tenant farmers
- Opinion: Power to the people…direct from their roof
- Opinion: Mega solar proposals won’t help us reach clean energy targets
- Rooftop revolution: Why putting solar on car parks makes sense
