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A CPRE report has found that over half the solar panels needed to hit national net zero targets could be fitted on rooftops and in car parks.
The research, carried out by the UCL Energy Institute, shows that decarbonising the national energy grid requires far less land than previously thought.
Installing solar panels on existing buildings and car parks would enjoy near-universal public support and help minimise objections to large solar farms in the countryside, the research finds. It also reveals that the potential of brownfield sites to generate renewable energy is dramatically underused.
Alongside the report, the CPRE has kicked off a petition calling on the government to ensure all suitable new buildings have rooftop solar. We’re calling on the government to set a national rooftop solar target of at least 40GW by 2035.
Roger Mortlock, chief executive of CPRE, said:
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 fewer objections and a speedier passage through the planning system.
Given the urgency of the climate crisis, it’s time to fit renewables as standard on all new development. Homeowners expect it on new homes and it’s crazy to see massive new warehouses with massive roofs waved through without any expectation they install rooftop solar.
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.
The report’s key recommendations to reach the government target of 70GW of solar energy by 2035 include:
- A new rooftop solar target: at least 40GW by 2035 delivered through the lowest cost opportunities on new builds, commercial buildings and car parks.
- Land use framework: a national strategy to balance the competing needs for buildings, carbon sequestration, energy and infrastructure, food security and nature recovery on a finite amount of land.
- ‘Roof first’: local communities can audit solar potential on available south-facing roofs, following the example of Kendal Town Council in the Lake District, and then will be able to prioritise solar panels on suitable brownfield land and avoid best and most versatile agricultural land.
- Grid capacity: work with Ofgem to require Distribution Network Operators across the country to invest in local grid capacity to better accommodate increased generation from solar and heat pumps.
Professor Mark Barrett of the UCL Energy Institute, lead author of the research, said:
This study found there is more than sufficient potential solar capacity on rooftops and car parks in urban areas. 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 onto existing homes would be more costly.
