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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what further steps they will take to support solar energy across the UK.

The Government’s Net Zero Strategy included a commitment to accelerate deployment of low-cost renewable generation, such as solar, across the UK in the 2020s and beyond.

The Government is providing ongoing support to large-scale solar projects across Great Britain in the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. The fourth CfD auction opened in December 2021 and will aim to deliver up to double the renewable capacity of the last round. Rooftop solar in Great Britain is supported through the Smart Export Guarantee scheme, which requires electricity suppliers to offer a tariff to buy electricity exported to the grid by small low-carbon generators, typically solar panels.

The Government is implementing around £170 million of business rates support in England for green technologies, including solar, to support decarbonising buildings. The Government also supports UK-based innovation in solar through various innovation schemes, including the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund, and is working with the solar industry to support development of the UK solar supply chain.

Energy policy is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive.