A year ago, a Labor government was chosen for power in the UK, which announced a positive shift for the renewable energy industry.
In the government voted behind the back of a manifesto that concentrated renewable energy sources and promised a rapid expansion of solar energy in the Solar, the election concluded a period in which those who were in power were not encouraged, then prepared supervision of anti-solid rhetoric and wrong information spread.
The British government department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz) quickly took action and in his first week as energy secretary Ed Miliband granted development assignments (DCOs) for three sun factories with combined capacity of more than 1.3 GW.
One year on, eight on solar energy Nationally important infrastructure projects (NSIPs) have received a DCO from Miliband, Most Recently the nod to Baywa Re For the 140 MW Oaklands Farm Solar-Plus-Storage Development.
The Manifesto of Labor promised to reach 72 GW installed solar capacity by 2035, after the solar capacity in 2030 to travel to around 42 GW.
Focus has shifted the objective of 2035 after the publication of the government’s clean capital plan, which describes the necessary steps to a majority (98%) renewable energy-driven energy system that works in the UK in the UK by 2030. Within this, the government is dedicated to between 42-47 GW Solar that will be installed in 2030.
Lead Solar Analyst for Solar Media Market Research Josh Cornes says that the increase in NSIPs of Zonne -NSIPs is introducing the planning system, because the elections can be the result of improved development of developers after the fast DCO goods inspections of Miliband and supporting signals from the government, or the CP30 plan plan.
Changes in the planning system
As it promised, the government has changed the British planning system to make it more difficult for local authorities to reject solar developments on false grounds.
Previously, the formulation in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) referred to the consideration of agricultural land for food production in considerations for renewable energy, common rhetoric about the anti-solid PV side of the debate and associated reasoning for refusing solar planning.
The common misconception that PV development of solar energy would lead to food insecurity by taking agricultural land outside the level crossing, one that is shown on different points, including a statement by Miliband on the Lower House in July 2024.
In December, the government a re -rejected NPPF implemented To state that planning authorities must “give considerable weight to the benefits related to renewable and low carbon programs and the contribution of the proposal to a net zero future” in determining applications.
The NPPF is tailored to other changes to phraseology that the government has made to National Policy Statements (NPSS), which cover NSIPs. Adjustments mean that NPS EN-3 NSIPs mentions “critical national priority”, and as such, their “national security, economic, commercial and net zero benefits” would outweigh the negative effects of their development.
These changes were introduced in addition to the CP30 action plan, but such as Chris Hewett, Chief Executive of the British solar trading organ Solar Energy UK and co-chairman of the government’s solar task force, she notes, they will not have a major effect on the installed generation power until after 2030.
The action plan, says Hewett, creates a welcome urgency to build towards an imminent target: “That is why more projects came from our industry.”
Raster connections: make winners and losers
When Hewett spoke PV Tech Last year after the elections, he was clear that grid connections were the greatest care for industry.
Since then, the British Energy Regulator Vangem has inspected plans proposed by the National Energy System Operator (NESO), the independent body that manages the British energy system, including gas, for a new way of management Raster connection applications.
In an attempt to cut ‘zombie projects’, those who request a grid connection with little chance of ever being realized from the queue, the new system regulates applications in ‘gates’, which prioritize projects that are likely to deliver and are tailored to the British energy policy.
According to Hewett: “It is fair to say that it has been an uncomfortable process”. The new methodology had to be developed very quickly and is with some dissatisfaction in the solar industry. Hewett says that because the government and Neso have moved so quickly, caused the economic ripples in the industry, and during the entire process that was “pretty opaque”, it was not clear that the views of generators were taken into account.
“There are winners and losers out as a whole,” he says.
This is another area in which the situation was not discussed after 2010. The downside of the urgency created by CP30, and the speed with which connecting reforms were implemented is that there are “probably larger question marks about what will happen between 2030 and 2035”.
The revolution on the roof
The sun sector on the roof in the UK has “good” done from the reform of the connection, says Hewett.
A long -standing question from the connection process was that the Transmission threshold is increased from 1 MW to 5 MW In England and Wales. In Scotland the threshold was raised from 50 kW to 200 kW in the summer of 2024.
By increasing the capacity that requires an installation on the roof a transmission impact analysis (TIA), which previously delayed or prevented the rollout of larger PV installations, Neso said it was hoping that it was hoping that “about 400 distributed generation projects to show gate 2 compliance”. “
At the time, Solar Energy UK gave a “warm welcome” to the news that “a bureaucracy element that has added for many years to getting projects off the ground”, which contributes to the government’s explained ambition to “unleash a revolution on the roof”.
The government had promised in its manifesto to implement a mandate for all newly built property in the UK to have PV systems installed on the roof. This was a policy that was driven by the previous government.
Almost a year after his dedication to the revolution on the roof, the policy that seemed a certain of the off was officially only in June 2025, with the Future Homes standard published in the fall this year and comprises the mandate.
A little more in handle for desnz was Reform of contracts for difference (CFD) schedule.
Last year’s rounds of round six (AR6) broke records for the highest budget (increased by miliband to £ 1.56 billion) and secure capacity, with 3.3GW solar projects that receive contracts (a total of 34.74 GW). Shortly after the success of last year’s auction, the government announced the ambition to reform the process for an even greater capacity in AR7.
To achieve CP30 goals, at least 12 GW capacity must be protected in AR7, AR8 and possibly (depending on the speed of the deployment) AR9 in all technologies. In order to implement and comparable low costs (compared to other technological types that are included in the auction), solar projects could be achieved.
Changes in the scheme approved on July 15, 2025 include increasing the duration of the available contracts for wind and solar projects from 15 to 20 years and the energy secretary can view to view developers prior to determining the final budget.
This step gives more forward certainty to the industry about what application rounds will look like for the projects that will be delivered in 2030, something that was well received.
The Flid British Energy Company could play a role in smaller solar sun.
HEWETT notes that with the launch of GB Energy the advice of the solar industry was that the investment vehicle-back-back-renewable energy developer uses one of the £ 8.3 billion that is allocated to invest in the public sector-“what they have done”.
A £ 200 million investment of the British government and GB Energy The company will see with schools and the NHS working to install Zonne -PV on a total of 400 sites on roof, which delivers between 70 MW and 100 MW of solar generation.
In England, about £ 80 million in financing will support around 200 schools, in addition to £ 100 million for nearly 200 NHS sites, with the first solar systems installed at the end of the summer 2025.
A more recent development in the company’s assignment is a change in the Great British Energy Bill that determines the obligation to ban the use of solar products with forced labor in their supply chains in its projects.
It will also find possibilities to develop technological sovereignty in the supply chain To stimulate the concept of energy that has been developed in the UK that supports the recently released industrial strategy.
Supply Chains and the Solar Route Card
Perhaps the solar route map of the government was with details about how it will be achieved to installed capacity goals, the sharpest and slowest was the slowest to promise. Shortly after the elections, Miliband stopped the Solar Taskforce again and he was the group together with Hewett as a significant emphasis he put on his mission.
Hewett says that “you cannot accuse the ambition” in the speed with which Miliband moved, with the roadmap promised for the first time before the fall 2024, after a shift to display the increased ambition of the new government and a month after the first meeting in September 2024.
Ensuring that the coordination with the CP30 action plan has postponed this and Hewett admits that Miliband was unable to be “practically” with the task force as he had wanted.
With the first assessment of the government, however, the economic dedication confirms to the development of renewable energy, the Solar Roadmap has finally been published– Without an insignificant amount of focus on the supply chain problems.
This is an excerpt from an article that will be published in the upcoming edition of PV Tech Poweravailable with a premium subscription to both PV Tech or News for energy storage. The diary also has an in-depth look at the solar route map of Chris Hewett.
