Solar Put at Heart of Response to Energy Crisis

The Government’s decision to accelerate solar energy deployment from the smallest to the largest scale has been applauded by the UK’s fast-growing solar energy industry.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband laid out several emergency measures, in response to the fossil fuel supply crisis caused by the war in Iran.

Unexpectedly bringing forward the next Contracts for Difference (CfD) renewables auction to July will have the biggest impact, helping to push expensive natural gas off the grid and cut bills, says Solar Energy UK. The latest round secured a record 13.3 gigawatts of capacity – enough to power 23 million homes – 4.9GW of it from solar farms, to be deployed over the next few years.

Lessons learned from the recent Fingleton Review of the nuclear sector will also be applied to renewables and other infrastructure, Miliband said.

Accelerating Solar Energy

At the opposite end of the market, plug-in (or ‘balcony’) solar panels will soon be permitted for use in the UK for the first time.

Having been in common use in Germany, the Netherlands and other countries for some years, the technology can be deployed quickly on walls or on the balconies of flats, where conventional rooftop installations would be impossible – although their ability to cut home running costs is much less than a conventional domestic rooftop array and battery system.

The roll-out of the Warm Homes Plan, which will provide grants and interest-free loans for solar power, batteries and other home energy upgrades, will also be accelerated.

Chris Hewett, Solar Energy UK Chief Executive

Chris Hewett, Chief Executive of Solar Energy UK, said: “The latest events in the Middle East have underlined the importance of weening the British economy from dependence on oil and gas as soon as possible and moving to become a fully electrified economy. I am delighted to see that solar energy will be put at the heart of the Government’s response, being the fastest and cheapest solution to rising energy bills, at the smallest and larges scales.”

Last week, the Committee on Climate Change said that the cost of a single spike in fossil fuels, of the order of the 2022 energy price crisis, would likely equal the additional cost of hitting net zero greenhouse gas emissions over every year to 2050.

In November, the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit and think tank E3G found that the gas price spike caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to direct economic impacts of £183bn over the past 4 years.

>> Read more about solar in the news