Bright future for solar in the east

Currently, solar equates for about 4 per cent of total electricity generation in the country. If the predicted growth happens, solar will be more like 10-15 per cent by the end of the decade.

“We are seeing growth of 30 per cent year-on-year over the last few years, but we are expecting that to accelerate and treble, if not more than treble, its capacity in the UK by the end of the decade,” said Chris Hewett, chief executive of trade body Solar Energy UK.

“The fact the government has now recognised the potential of solar in the UK, it’s giving it further impetus.”

Across the East of England, a gigawatt (GW) of solar capacity has received planning permission and connection agreement, which is ready to build over the next few years.

“Another 1.7GW is in the planning system, along with another 3GW which is in scoping phase.

“Not all of these will necessarily get built, it may not work out for grid or planning reasons, but there are 3GW which we know is being scoped, and that pipeline has grown rapidly over the last couple of years.”

Globally there is 1 terawatt (TW) of solar across the world and that is likely to double in the next few years, so solar is growing very fast.

Although the government’s British Energy Security Strategy will help to accelerate the industry, much of the investment is happening anyway, Chris said.

“Solar farms and wind are now the cheapest ways to generate electricity in the country, the economics of the technology have excelled.

“The economics now mean that solar is completely subsidy free and there is a lot of investment activity. So, as well as solar farms we are seeing an equal amount of growth in commercial rooftops.

“Corporates are not protected by any energy price cap, which makes the pay back for commercial rooftop solar very attractive, three to five years, maybe two, depending on what their consumption is. So, as a result, there is a massive growth in that large rooftop scale as well.

“Particularly this year, but also throughout last year as energy prices increased, we’ve also seen double the amount of installations of residential solar than there was this time last year, and that’s still going up.”

If all the planned projects in the East of England go ahead, Chris predicts they could produce around 10,000 jobs in the region by the end of the decade.

Permanent jobs will be created, both in construction and installation, but also operation and maintenance. But, like the wind industry, finding the right skilled people in the area can be challenging.

“I think we should be looking at running more courses to skill up the region, because we are starting to see it’s a rapidly growing industry and there are actually skill shortages.

“There are opportunities for people to move into this industry, it’s a long-term career, across Europe and the world of solar is growing,” Chris said.

Solar is working economically in all parts of the country, but the East of England has a lot of flat land and grid capacity, which makes the area an attractive option geographically.

“Not only this, but we also did some research recently with the University of Cambridge that looked at the impact of having solar on your home in terms of property prices. We found having solar on your house can add around £2,000 value to the sale price.”

There are also opportunities for nature and biodiversity. Often land that is used for solar farms includes agreements to make sure biodiversity is enhanced and managed in a way that doesn’t use pesticides or fertilisers.

“In May 2020, 11 per cent of the whole of the electricity of the country came from solar, so treble that, and we are looking at points in the summer where it could be 30 per cent of the total generation in the country by the end of the decade.

“So, although seasonal, solar has demonstrated its huge potential in the drive for greater homegrown power and energy independence.”