The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has announced that housebuilders will be required to fit solar panels to the “vast majority” of new homes in England.
Under regulation changes to be published this year, all new build homes will be required to comply unless falling under certain exemptions, which include being covered by shade.
The energy secretary said that the decision was “common sense” and that the addition of solar panels would save the average household around £500 a year on bills.
In response to the announcement, the Home Builders Federation said that it supported the fitting of more solar panels but warned against introducing time-consuming paperwork that could slow down the government’s plan to build 1.5 million new homes during its parliament.
The new rules will be included in the Future Homes Standard and will be published in autumn of this year. A transitional period will be provided to give developers time to adjust to the new regulations.
The previous government consulted on a proposal that new homes should include rooftop solar panels that covered the equivalent of 40% of the building’s footprint but lost the election before any changes could be implemented.
When asked if the government would keep the proposed 40% figure, Miliband said that full details would be provided in the autumn.
He said: “The problem about the previous system was that it said you would had to have a certain percentage of coverage of solar panels but if you couldn’t achieve that percentage you didn’t have to do anything at all.”
“Under our plans, we are not going to say that. We are going to say even if you can’t hit 40% you will still have to have some solar panels, except in rare exceptional cases.”
He continued to say that the amount of homes with solar panels has to be “much, much higher”, saying “It’s got to be almost universal.”
Miliband added that he didn’t believe there was a risk of housebuilders passing on the cost of the solar panels onto buyers.
Neil Jefferson, head of the Home Builders Federation, said that currently it estimated two in five new homes were fitted with solar panels, adding that the industry was “getting increasingly used to incorporating solar panels within the building of new homes”.
He continued: “The government just needs to take care to make sure that it does not prescribe and mandate too much on rooftops.”
“If every single home needs to be applied for on an exemption basis that will slow up the delivery of desperately-needed new homes, that administration will be burdensome.”
