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Campaign group demands solar panels on all new buildings

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A leading campaign group is urging the government to make it a planning requirement that all ‘suitable’ new buildings have solar panels

Countryside charity CPRE (formerly the Council for the Protection of Rural England) is demanding changes to planning rules so that solar capacity is mandated on all major refurbishments and new residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

Its call follows new research, carried out for the charity by the UCL Energy Institute, that claims half of the solar panels needed for the nation to hit its net zero targets could be fitted on rooftops and car parks. The charity also wants the government to set a national rooftop solar target of at least 40GW by 2035 as it works towards its own ambition of generating 70GW of solar energy within the next 12 years.

The CPRE's report adds that installing solar panels ‘unobtrusively’ on existing buildings and car parks would enjoy ‘near-universal public support and help minimise objections to large solar farms in the countryside’.

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The charity also says that the potential of urban brownfield sites to generate renewable energy was curently being ‘dramatically underutilised’.

CPRE chief executive Roger Mortlock said: ‘The planning system is stuck in the fossil fuel age without a plan for net zero. The first step must be all new buildings and major renovations requiring solar panels as a condition of planning permission unless there are strong reasons not to.’

‘We are missing a trick in failing to install more solar panels on roofs and car parks. Rooftop solar has almost universal public support. It’s unobtrusive and largely out of the line of sight, which means less objections and a speedier passage through the planning system.’

‘The planning system is stuck in the fossil fuel age without a plan for net zero’

Mortlock added: ‘Given the urgency of the climate crisis, it’s time that renewables are fitted as standard on all new development. Homeowners expect it on new homes and it’s crazy to see massive new warehouses, with roofs the size of football pitches, waved through without any expectation they install rooftop solar.’

Mark Barrett of the UCL Energy Institute, and lead author of the research, added: ‘This study found there is more than sufficient potential solar capacity on rooftops and car parks in urban areas.

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‘It’s clear we can get close to meeting the government’s solar energy target without necessitating the development of large solar farms in sensitive rural areas. Urban photovoltaic panels on car parks, and new and large buildings, would be relatively cheap, although retrofitting solar panels on to existing homes would be more costly.’

The government says that, as part of its consultation on the 2025 Future Homes and Build Standard, it is exploring how ‘to drive on-site renewable electricity generation, such as solar panels, where appropriate in new homes and buildings'.

But it acknowledges that some homes may not be suitable for solar panels, for instance, ‘due to shading, building orientation, roof shape/size, or visual amenity’.

Responding to the CPRE's report, a government spokesperson told the AJ: ‘Solar is an important part of our strategy for increasing the energy performance of buildings and achieving net zero by 2050.

‘That is why, in 2021, we set the performance standards for new buildings at a level that means most new homes will likely be built with solar panels.

‘The government is also working to publish a full technical consultation later this year on the Future Homes and Building Standard.’

Source:Shutterstock

Comment

Gavin Sorby, managing director, Buttress

We would welcome discussions about and support the installation of rooftop solar panels for buildings where they can be introduced in an unobtrusive way.

For more widescale use, we really need to be looking towards dual-purpose roofing materials that cover the roof and also perform as PV panels. Technology, with few exceptions, is still at the ‘bolt-on’ addition stage of development rather than an integrated roofing solution.

We need to be looking towards dual-purpose materials that cover the roof and also perform as PV panels

Large surface area car parks, at supermarkets, airports and shopping centres should be considered a priority – this would provide shade and shelter in addition to power generation and be a positive, sensible and logical start for the sector to support the environment on a much-needed mass scale.

There needs to be further development of power-generating roofing materials before it is brought into planning policy – then we can start to look at transferring the cost of a new power station towards a subsidy that can be applied to their installation to help cover any additional cost.

Source:Shutterstock

Solar roof tiles on a house

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