Currently, fewer than 5% of UK homes have solar panels. With the government driving a surge in home building over the next five years, and the new Future Homes and Buildings Standards on the horizon, now is the time to take bold action to on solar to tackle the climate & energy crisis, argues Andrew Woodruff, MD of Arrow Energy Solutions, an installer covering the South and Southwest.
The legislative landscape
Despite the clear environmental and financial benefits of solar panels, there isn’t legislation requiring their installation on new homes. Instead, developers are left to decide whether to include them, and many opt not to, or only do so in the minority of projects.
Energy efficiency standards for new homes are already in place across the UK, and they are set to get tougher. The upcoming 2025 Future Homes and Buildings Standard aims to deliver zero-carbon-ready homes, with the consultation proffering two options, one of which doesn’t mention solar at all:
Option 1 includes “high-efficiency solar PV panels covering the equivalent of 40% of the home’s ground floor area” along with a wastewater heat recovery system, increased airtightness and a decentralised mechanical ventilation (dMEV) system.
Option 2 which does not include those elements, would have lower additional build costs but be less beneficial in terms of consumer bills.
Both include, “a high-efficiency air source heat pump and good fabric standards to minimise heat loss from windows, walls, floors and roofs and high performance standards for domestic hot water storage.”
Surely, with air source heat pumps becoming standard in new homes—doubling energy consumption—solar panels are even more critical?
The case for mandatory solar systems
One major barrier to mandatory solar is cost; Installing solar panels could add around £6,200 to construction costs. However, this is offset by long-term savings on energy bills, which can amount to over £40,000 during a system's lifetime for a typical home. (figures from Solar Energy UK) Installing solar panels during construction rather than retrofitting is cheaper and also means you can optimise their efficiency too.
The Energy Saving Trust estimates that the average UK home with a solar PV system can reduce carbon emissions by between 1.3 to 1.6 tonnes per year –making them more attractive to buyers and renters who increasingly value eco-friendly features, as surveys by Legal and General and Landlord Today have shown.
Political as well as public support is growing. A YouGov survey found that 70% of MPs support the idea of mandatory solar, and a coalition of housing and environmental organizations has called on the government to be more ambitious with its Future Homes Standard – specifically that all new homes incorporate integrated solar PV as a standard feature.
The time is now
As the new Labour government plans to build 1.5 million homes within five years, this is a key moment to act and set a strong foundation for the future.
We already have a huge mountain to climb in terms of improving the current housing stock, so it seems madness to me that we are not moving faster to ensure new homes are properly equipped to be net zero, even net contributors to the decarbonised grid – and for that, solar is the obvious choice.
With new homes currently so high on the political agenda, and a surge in building on the horizon, now is the moment to get this right.