Last week, the government announced that GB Energy’s first investment will be in solar panels – predominantly for schools and hospitals in England. This investment will cut the bills of key public sector institutions that have been hit hard by the rising cost of energy.
But greater progress is needed on increasing rooftop solar capacity. If the government wants Britain to become a clean energy superpower and triple solar power by 2030, they will have to go further. Installing solar panels on the rooftops of our homes and commercial buildings is crucial to producing clean and cheap energy. However, only 1 in 20 buildings currently have them.
The magnitude of the opportunity cannot be overlooked. Growing rooftop solar will help the government deliver on its crucial milestones, including bringing down bills and raising living standards. At a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty, more solar will also enhance our security and exposure to price volatility by reducing reliance on foreign oil and gas.
If all English constituencies had rooftop solar rates matching that of Peterborough (the constituency with the highest level), it would add 7GW of clean electricity capacity – over twice that of the Hinckley C nuclear power station, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit.
But there are three key barriers to expanding rooftop solar that urgently need addressing.
First, there is currently no requirement for new residential buildings to incorporate solar panels. If a standard 4kW system was required on each of the 1.5m new homes that the government aims to build, it would provide around five per cent of the UK’s current domestic electricity consumption. The government should mandate the installation of solar panels on new builds in the Future Homes Standard, building regulations that are expected to be updated later this year. The public back this, with 80 per cent saying they’d support regulations to make solar panels the default on new-build houses, compared to just nine per cent who would oppose this.
Despite the opportunity, the government is not expected to mandate developers to do so. If we don’t use this key opportunity to future-proof this new generation of homes, it will only keep us reliant on oil and gas for longer and make achieving our net zero targets harder.
Second, there are challenges with grid connectivity for households and businesses to sell their excess energy. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit found that extra solar capacity and grid connections could save the UK around £450 million from buying gas every year. But currently a lack of local grid capacity means many commercial rooftop solar developments have to wait up to a decade to get connected to the grid – reducing incentives and wasting cheap, clean energy. We must act to speed up grid connections as soon as possible to prevent this solar stalemate from continuing.
Finally, a skills and labour shortage constricts supply and increases costs for installation. Solar Energy UK found that the UK will need 60,000 people installing solar panels by the mid-2030s to meet installation targets, up from only 7,000 in 2020. The Chancellor’s recent announcement of £600m of funding for skilled construction workers is a good step in this direction. And the upcoming replacement of the Apprenticeship Levy with the new Growth and Skills Levy is another vital opportunity to incentivise training young people in the skills they need to work in green industries such as solar installation.
These challenges won’t be overcome overnight, but the government must start addressing them now, if the UK is to be a clean energy superpower by 2030, which is now only five years away. While we continue to overlook the potential of our rooftops, other nations are capitalising on theirs and strengthening their energy security. For example, the EU Commission has proposed requiring all new buildings to be ‘solar-ready’ and requiring existing public buildings to gradually install solar, while France has mandated solar panels on new car parks since 2023. The UK should follow the lead of our European neighbours and make better use of our rooftops to drive the energy transition.
If the UK government strengthens building and planning regulations, invests in skills, and expands grid capacity, we can unlock the full potential of rooftop solar. With the right policies, there will be sunny days ahead for scaling up solar energy and cutting our energy bills.
Eloise Sacares is a Senior Researcher at the Fabian Society
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