The UK solar PV sector has undergone a huge transformation since the Coalition Government came to office in 2010. From almost zero, PV has now been deployed on over half a million buildings, with total installed capacity in 2014 set to exceed 4 GWp. Innovation and clean energy are at the heart of this Government’s long term economic plan.
Most importantly, thanks to our reforms to the way solar PV is financially supported, this dramatic expansion is both affordable for consumers and offers a genuine long term and resilient platform for growth for the industry. However, big challenges still lay ahead, not least the drive to genuine grid parity.
The huge cost falls seen right across the PV supply chain, which have fuelled growth in the UK market, must continue if UK solar is to achieve its full potential. However, Government is not a spectator in this transition but a hands-on partner in growth.
This Solar PV Strategy, the first ever of its kind in the UK, sets out our clear ambition to see a further step change in deployment. In particular, this bold strategy focuses on a major opening up of the market for mid-size, commercial and industrial onsite generation and a new drive to work with industry to scale up domestic deployment, aiming for one million roof installations by the end of 2015.
Currently, there is 2.7 GWp of PV capacity in the UK, which places the UK firmly in the global top 10 economies for deployed solar.
But my personal ambition is far bigger than that. While the UK already has a legally binding EU obligation for 15 per cent of its energy to come from renewables by 2020, I believe that, as the sector drives the cost of solar PV down towards grid parity, the UK has the potential to install up to 20 GWp of solar early in the next decade.
The UK solar sector must also exploit opportunities to increase the amount of UK manufactured product it deploys, attract more inward investment, as well as taking advantage of key overseas markets for its technology and expertise.
So how do we realise this big ambition? It can be quite easily summed up in two simple concepts: “deployment” and “cost reduction”.
We need to deploy solar technology sensitively but also wherever it makes sense to do so. That requires us to be imaginative, but also to remove the red tape and the barriers which prevent perfectly sensible solar installations from taking place.
UK Solar PV Strategy Part 2: Delivering a Brighter Future
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And with the costs of solar falling – with the potential to reach grid parity at all scales in the coming years – it is becoming more and more attractive for households, communities, and businesses to invest in PV.
I have spoken elsewhere of my vision of a far more decentralised energy economy and of the need for a proliferation of small energy enterprises creating a brand new energy market of insurgent new entrant suppliers. Not a market dominated by the “Big 6” but by the “Big 60,000”.
Solar sits at the heart of this vision for a more plural market, characterised by a host of distributed energy technologies. Decentralised energy opportunities which are installed as part of a much more coherent ‘D3’ approach – where demand reduction, demand response and distributed generation work hand in glove to help us meet our energy security and climate goals.
We have already made terrific progress, with 500,000 installed solar projects, but I want to see us go much further.
There are an estimated 250,000 hectares of south facing commercial roofs in the UK. With the obvious environmental benefits and financial advantages for any organisation installing solar PV it makes perfect sense to exploit this opportunity. We need to do more to encourage take up.
So the Strategy we are publishing today clears the way for widespread use of mid-scale solar by using space on top of factories, supermarkets, warehouses, car parks and other commercial and industrial buildings. We will work with developers, commercial property owners, planning authorities, and the solar industry to cut red tape and sweep away barriers to making use of empty industrial spaces to provide the electricity we rely on every day.
Government will be playing its part too, using the public estate such as MoD buildings, schools, and hospitals to make sure that not one inch of suitable Government roof space is wasted. Government must build on the success of our own energy efficiency drive and now strive to install up to 1 GWp of solar PV on our own land and buildings over the coming years. Private capital already stands ready to fund the first 500 MW across the Government estate so this partnership is already underway; and we expect to make substantial progress in 2014.
The market for domestic PV is also still in its infancy and set for further sustained growth. Taking advantage of the opportunities created by the new Green Deal market; product innovation; reforms to the personal pension regime; and falling costs across the supply chain will drive demand for domestic PV to a new level.
Solar power has been on a long journey but has now matured to become one of the most exciting prospects in the British energy mix. Costs are falling, technology is improving, and demand is increasing.
So I want to make sure we seize the opportunity which solar PV offers to the British economy, to the environment, to our energy mix, and to the people who could benefit directly from it. We need to turn rooftops into power stations and help consumers move from just being supplied with energy by big firms to being “pro-sumers”, producing and using more of our own self-generated electricity.
Taken together this is a truly exciting prospect. Together, we will make this vision a reality.
