What impact will the relaunched Solar Taskforce have?

The UK  Government has relaunched the Solar Taskforce to accelerate the nation’s transition to renewable energy. The initiative aims to update and expand upon the Solar Taskforce established under the Conservative administration in 2023 – as previously reported on in our article .

What are the updated goals of the Solar Taskforce?

The revised objectives of the Taskforce include:

• Achieving 45-47 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy by 2030, up from a current level of 16.6GW
• Publication of the solar roadmap (as reported on in more detail here) outlining clear steps to meet the 47GW target
• To align with the Government’s ‘Clean Power by 2030’ ambition.

The Solar Taskforce is now jointly chaired by Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, and Chief Executive of Solar Energy UK, Chris Hewett.

The relaunch of the Solar Taskforce is the latest in a string of announcements and proposals by Government in its drive to increase solar capacity and reduce carbon emissions.

• Since his appointment as Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband has approved three nationally significant solar farms in the east of England totalling over 1.3GW of renewable energy capacity; Low Carbon’s Gate Burton (Lincolnshire), Mallard Pass (Lincolnshire) and Sunnica (Suffolk/Cambridgeshire)
• The Energy Secretary has announced a solar ‘rooftop revolution’:

“I want to unleash a UK solar rooftop revolution. We will encourage builders and homeowners in whatever way we can to deliver this win-win technology to millions of addresses in the UK so people can provide their own electricity, cut their bills and at the same time help fight climate change.”

• A response from Government is also awaited to the consultation on the Future Homes Standard as reported on here. This is likely to see a greater deployment of solar panels on new build properties.

Our expert Real Estate lawyers can be contacted to discuss any queries you may have and for more general information in respect of photovoltaic solar panels.