Ministers have confirmed the Future Homes Standard (FHS), which is published in the fall, will foresee that all new -build properties have installed solar PV.
Energie -Secretary Ed Miliband said that “common sense” in De Standaard is a “monumental step” in the promise of the government to unleash a “revolution on the roof”.
The proposed FHS will explicitly promote building regulations for the first time, subject to practical limits, with flexibility in place for new houses surrounded by trees or with a lot of shade overhead.
The FHS will state that if developers cannot meet the requirements to install PV cover on the roof, equal to 40% of the floor space of a building, a “reasonable amount of” coverage is still required.
As such, it would be a functional requirement of the building regulations that new houses, with rare exceptions, have been built with renewable electricity generation. The government states that “in the vast majority of cases” this would be for generating solar energy.
Miliband called the Energy Assessment tool of the government that households could see £ 530 annual savings on energy bills with a solar installation on the roof.
Housing and Planning Matthew PennyCook said: “Our logical changes in the planning will now make it easier and cheaper for people to use heat pumps and switch it to EVs, so that they can play their role in strengthening the energy surcharge of our nation.”
Chris Hewett, Chief Executive of Trade Association Solar Energy UK said that the industry is “very happy” to hear the news.
At the beginning of the year, the government debated the new bill (Zonne -Generation) in the Lower House, which was brought forward after protest after it was suggested that the FHS would not oblige Solar for new -build properties.
The Sunshine Bill, who in fact explained proposals to the FHS will now oblige, was rejected by officials on January 20, despite the fact that PennyCook said that the government was “extremely sympathetic” for the proposal.
The MCS Foundation, a charity established to supervise the MCS standards schedule that certifies the quality of renewable energy in British houses, welcomed today’s news.
The group has been an active advocate for the mandate, in which a Letter in October calls for the government to implement mandatory solar sun in the FHS, and vocal criticize the government When it hesitated.
The Chief Executive of the MCS Foundation repeated that the plans are a “huge boost” for the sector: “This announcement clearly shows that clean energy in the UK is the future.”
