Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Housebuilders have criticised plans by ministers to impose a minimum level of solar panels on most new-build homes, warning that the imminent regulations could prove hard to implement and even cause delays to building.
The government has been consulting on proposals for almost every new home built in England to be fitted with solar panels from as early as 2027, in an attempt to cut energy bills and reduce emissions. Housebuilders already fit about two in five new-builds with solar panels today.
Officials believe that adding solar panels could add £3,300 to the cost of building a semi-detached or terraced house. They argue this will be recouped in just four years with a typical three-bed home saving over £1,000 a year on energy bills.
But builders have expressed concern about a proposal from the housing department that most new homes should have solar panels covering 40 per cent of a building’s footprint.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) said it was “unrealistic” for the government to expect all new homes to be suitable for 40 per cent coverage “at full efficiency and capacity”, given many would have uneven roofs and north-facing aspects. Its submission, which has been seen by the Financial Times, said that 20 per cent would be a more realistic target to set.
The HBF also warned that the government’s proposals could “slow the delivery of new-build homes” because companies would have to seek “prior approval” from councils in advance if they wanted to provide less than 40 per cent.
“The current wording suggests that subsequent consents need to be sought for those properties that don’t deliver at 40 per cent. This scenario would see developers getting into granular detail on a plot by plot basis with the [electricity] network provider, local planning authority and building control bodies,” it said.
“This would be an unrealistic and unsustainable scenario that would undermine the government’s ambitions regarding housing delivery and economic growth.”
Government officials have said that there would still be “flexibility for legitimate cases” where it would be appropriate to have “reduced or no solar panel coverage”.
The plans have prompted delight from the renewables industry, with Chris Hewett, chief executive of trade association Solar Energy UK, saying he was “hugely pleased” that industry lobbying appeared to have paid off.
“Although we await confirmation, ensuring that every new home will have solar panels fitted soon will boost energy security, cut bills and put us closer to reaching net zero,” he said.
But the HBF said it was concerned about new wording around the proposed requirement, which said that a “system for renewable electricity generation must be installed on site”.
“We support in principle the use of [solar panels] but not necessarily at the 40 per cent level due to roofscape complexity and general roofing features such as hips, gables, verge, ridge and eaves offset distances, roof lights and dormers,” it said.
“This level, although it may be the coverage required to achieve cost neutrality for homeowners, is impractical or impossible to achieve on certain types of housing and in keeping with national and local design requirements.”
Builders are seeking to “upskill” the construction workforce to ensure that the industry has enough trained workers to install the solar panels on homes.
The housing department said it has “listened to housebuilders alongside many other views to develop practical yet ambitious proposals through the Future Homes Standard to maximise the installation of solar panels on new homes and meet our ambition to ensure all new homes are energy efficient.”
It added: “We have always been clear that we want solar panels on as many new homes as possible because they are a vital technology to help cut bills for families, boost our national energy security, and help deliver net zero.”
