New government switches on to solar energy
The new Labour government has already made rapid movements to kickstart green economic growth. The Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero (DESNZ) has granted planning permission to construct three major solar farms in the east of England, namely Gate Burton Energy Park in Lincolnshire, Sunnica Energy Farm on the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border and Mallard Pass Solar Farm in Lincolnshire and Rutland on the East Coast Mainline.
The solar farms will help speed up the decarbonisation of the electricity grid. They will also support companies’ ESG efforts by increasing the accessibility of renewable sources of energy as well as reducing the carbon footprint and supporting the net zero ambitions of organisations who purchase energy generated by the solar farms.
This development underlines the importance of renewable energy for both energy security in the UK and the government’s target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Renewable energy usage has been steadily growing and it was reported that, in Q2 2024, renewable electricity generation contributed 47% of the total power generation mix in the UK, with wind being the dominant contributor (17.2 terawatt-hour (TWh) and solar generation reaching its highest level at 5.1TWh. Gate Burton and Sunnica will each have a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) and Mallard Pass will have a capacity of 350MW, sufficient to power 406,994 residential homes.
Property owners, developers and investors will also have a pivotal role in facilitating companies’ transition to renewable energy and to achieving net zero. This includes ensuring the necessary infrastructure is available to access renewable energy and increasing energy capacity through the generation of on and off-site renewable energy which in turn will deliver energy security and reducing energy costs. UK warehouses alone have the roof space to deliver up to 15GW of new solar power.
The government has already delivered on a number of sustainability pledges made during its election campaign, and it aims to shortly unveil further plans to “unleash a UK solar rooftop revolution” to support their commitment to trebling solar capacity by 2030, from 14.4 gigawatts (GW) (with one-third coming from rooftop solar) to approximately 42GW. For more information on the new government’s sustainability, read our recent blog on What the new Labour government means for sustainability in the UK.