Housebuilder will be required to fit solar panels to the “vast majority” of new build homes in England under changes to be published this year, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has announced.
The regulations will require property developers to add panels unless the buildings fall under certain exemptions such as being covered by shade.
In a press statement, Miliband said : “Solar panels can save people hundreds of pounds off their energy bills, so it is just common sense for new homes to have them fitted as standard.
Ministers are publishing the Future Homes Standard this autumn and confirmed last Friday that solar panels will be included, leading to installation on the vast majority of new build homes.
Illustrating the benefits of solar panels, the government says a typical existing UK home could save around £530 a year from installing rooftop solar, based on the current energy price cap.
Miliband added: “This marks a monumental step in unleashing this rooftop revolution as part of our Plan for Change, and means new homeowners will get lower bills with clean home-grown power.”
Under proposed changes, new homes will also have low-carbon heating, such as heat pumps and high levels of energy efficiency, cutting people’s energy bills and boosting the nation’s energy security with clean, homegrown power, in line with the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change.
To deliver these aims, the proposed Future Homes Standard would see building regulations amended to explicitly promote solar for the first time, subject to practical limits with flexibility in place for new homes surrounded by trees or with lots of shade overhead.
Housing and Planning Minister, Matthew Pennycook, commented: As part of the government’s Plan for Change to build 1.5 million homes, we are maximising the use of renewable energy to cut people’s bills and power their homes.
“The Future Homes Standard will ensure new homes are modern and efficient with low-carbon heating, while our common-sense planning changes will now make it easier and cheaper for people to use heat pumps and switch to EVs so they can play their part in bolstering our nation’s energy security.”
After legislation came into force last week, more homeowners will now be able to install a heat pump within one metre of their property’s boundary without having to submit a planning application.
Responding to Miliband’s announcement that rooftop solar panels will be made compulsory on new build homes, CPRE campaigns lead Jackie Copley said: “This is a very promising sign from the government. CPRE has long campaigned for widespread rooftop solar, which would harness the potential of the UK’s roofs to generate huge amounts of clean and truly sustainable energy.
“With rooftop solar, meaningful climate action does not come at the expense of a thriving and beautiful countryside. This is in contrast to mega solar farms, which damage natural landscapes and productive farmland.
“We now urge the government to go further, setting a target for generating at least 60% of the UK’s solar energy from rooftops, making it easier for warehouses and other industrial buildings to install rooftop solar panels, and speeding up the rollout of new grid connections.’
The Home Builders Federation said it backed fitting more panels but cautioned against introducing “burdensome” paperwork which it said could harm government efforts to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
Chris Hewett, from the trade body Solar Energy UK, added that local authorities would have to be “vigilant” to ensure developers were meeting their obligations but added that it would be “quite easy to enforce”.
