Solar Energy in the UK: Illuminating the Way to a Greener Future for Energy?
Introduction
This article forms part of the Renewable Energy series under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 of the United Nations. Target 7.2 commits the UK to ‘increasing the share of renewable energy’ in the global energy mix, primarily through the development and deployment of clean, sustainable energy. This article will explore the role that solar PV will occupy in aiding the UK in its rapid decarbonisation of the energy sector in light of SDG 7.
Solar Photovoltaic (PV), compared to other renewable sources, is the relatively new kid on the block and has only emerged as a genuine mainstream renewable over the last decade or so. To put this into perspective, the UK’s solar generation rose from 20 GWh in 2009 to 10,420 GWh in 2016. Whilst its current contribution to the UK’s energy mix remains small in comparison to the likes of offshore wind and biopower, new government policy suggests it will play an integral role in the future of the UK’s energy generation.
Domestic solar: A money-saving or money-making investment?
One of the primary driving forces behind the uptake of solar energy at a domestic level is its money-saving potential for consumers. Currently, an average UK household with a solar panel installation could save between £195 and £480 per year on their energy bills by using the clean energy they generate. However, since 2010, the government has added an additional incentive for consumers to install solar panels on their homes: the ability to make money.
In 2010, the UK introduced the celebrated ‘Feed-in Tariff’ (FIT) scheme which gave domestic consumers the ability to earn money by selling excess clean electricity back to the grid for a premium. The scheme gave homeowners the ability, based on their generation, to earn up to £1000 a year. The FIT was a mutually advantageous scheme; with the consumer deriving benefit from reduced energy bills and selling electricity, whilst the government was able to purchase cheap, renewable energy and increase solar penetration in the UK. Under the FIT scheme, there were 992,065 new solar panel installations in the UK.
After the closure of the FIT scheme in 2019, research suggests that the uptake of solar PV in the UK slowed dramatically. The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), which was designed to replace the FIT scheme (albeit slightly less generously), was later introduced in 2020. Solar energy in the UK therefore, at least at a domestic level, is likely to continue to be incentivised through the ability of consumers to not only save money, but also to make it.
Reducing international reliance on energy?
Solar power in the UK could represent yet another benefit to both consumers and the government: a detachment from our reliance on energy importation. In light of the Russia-Ukraine war and turbulent global markets, the price of electricity in the UK increased by 67 per cent in January 2023 compared to the same month just a year prior. According to the MSC, solar installations ‘doubled in 2022 compared to 2021’, suggesting that consumers are increasingly looking to protect themselves from volatile energy prices by decreasing their reliance upon it.
Chris Hewett, Chief Executive of Solar Energy UK said:
“We now have an opportunity to make our homes active contributors of the flexibility needed to maximise the potential of renewables, rather than be simply passive consumers of electricity”
The UK’s 2023 ‘Green Day’ package
In the wake of the government’s ‘Net-Zero Strategy’ being declared unlawful last year, the UK has recently released its revised energy policy papers in the form of the 2023 ‘Green Day’ package. Included in the package is the flagship Powering Up Britain policy paper which outlines ‘ambitious plans to scale up affordable, clean, homegrown power’ within the UK. The UK has also unveiled its plans to establish a ‘Solar Taskforce’ body to oversee and encourage the expansion of solar PV in the UK.
Expected in 2024, the ‘solar delivery roadmap’ is said to outline how the UK will continue to invest in solar energy, with the aim of reaching ‘70GW of solar generation capacity by 2035, mandated in last year’s Energy Security Strategy’. To achieve this figure, the UK’s solar industry will require both significant investment and rapid expansion; suggesting the UK may indeed view the solar industry as occupying a central role in its drive toward net zero.
Dr Nina Skorupska, Chief Executive of the REA, outlined the UK’s need to rapidly expand its solar capacity in order to:
“re-energise the deployment of low carbon generation, critical to an affordable, secure and decarbonised energy system”.
Conclusion
Whilst solar energy generation in the UK is relatively small when compared to the contributions that wind and biomass make to the UK’s energy mix, it is nevertheless growing at a rapid rate. The UK government has since recognised the potential of solar energy in the UK to transform its drive towards net-zero, with recent policy papers highlighting ambitious plans to scale up solar generation within the UK. After being described as one of the ‘most cost-effective ways to get the UK to net-zero carbon emissions’, solar energy may indeed have a bright future after all.
By Joseph Trim.