Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of mandating the installation of solar panels on commercial and industrial roofs.

The Government incentivises commercial/industrial rooftop solar in various ways, including permitted development rights, favourable tax treatment, and the Smart Export Guarantee.

Although we have no plans to mandate the installation of solar panels on commercial roofs, the recently published Solar Roadmap set out that rooftop solar will, where appropriate, play an important role in the Future Buildings Standard for new build non-domestic buildings which is due to be introduced later this year.

We are also working to unlock the potential for solar deployment in the non-domestic retrofit space, for example by exploring innovative financing models with the National Wealth Fund, and the upcoming Solar Council will monitor progress and drive delivery of this and other actions in the Roadmap.