Labour’s ‘rooftop revolution’ to deliver solar power to millions of UK homes

Labour have really come out of the blocks with their support of the UK renewables sector. After only 10 days in office, Ed Miliband is making huge strides to help the UK hit it's decarbonisation targets, showing his support to both wind and solar. 

One of his first tasks has been to approve three huge solar farms in the east of England, totalling over 1GW of power, that had previously been blocked by the Conservative Government. This welcome news will surely give a boost for other projects in the development pipeline that a successful outcome is now more likely. Of course, grid connections remain an issue and we wait to hear how the new Government will help to tackle this to ensure we maximise our renewable capacity. 

Ministers are also now looking at different ways to boost rooftop solar too, in particular for new build properties. This has long been a frustration mine, seeing new houses and commercial buildings appearing with either no or minimal amounts of solar on the roof. I first started working in solar in 2010, shortly after the feed-in tariffs were launched by the Labour Government. The 14 years that followed have seen so many missed opportunities to fully embrace solar so it's so refreshing having a Government who really understand the potential of renewables and the role they need to play. Long may this continue!

At Hyperion, we've just celebrated our 10th birthday. 10 years of helping cleantech companies to scale. The UK solar industry has always always been a cornerstone of our work. I'm excited by what the next few years will hold for the UK solar sector. If the new Government's positivity means your business is scaling up, please reach out to us to see how we can help.