Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to (a) prioritise a roofs first approach to solar panel installation to ensure efficient use of urban spaces and (b) incentivize homeowners and businesses to adopt rooftop solar technology.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Changes have been introduced to permitted development rights, enabling more solar installations to benefit from the flexibilities and planning freedoms permitted development rights offer. This includes a new permitted development right that allows for the installation of solar canopies in non-domestic, off-street, car parks.
For non-domestic rooftop solar, the 1MW cap was removed so that there is no limit on the electricity generated by solar installations.
Our Warm Homes Plan will transform homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run, from installing new insulation to rolling out low carbon heating like solar and heat pumps.