Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taken to encourage the use of solar power in new building developments in England.

Solar power is a good option for developers looking to improve the efficiency and sustainability of their building stock. We encourage such installations by allowing solar power on new building developments to qualify for the Feed-in-Tariff scheme, and through Building Regulations that set demanding energy performance targets for new buildings.

The Regulations were strengthened most recently in April 2014, to a level that means builders increasingly have to consider the use of renewable technologies in their designs. These could be solar panels, or they could be other types of renewables, which might be more appropriate depending on the location.

As the costs of panels continue to fall, we expect developers will increasingly see the value of installing solar power on new buildings.