Key elements include:
-Confirmation of Greg Barker’s target of 20GW of solar by 2020
-A target to double the number of homes with solar to 1,000,000 by 2015
-1GW of solar on government buildings
-A shift from large solar farms to populating south facing commercial rooftops
Climate change minister Greg Barker said: “We have put ourselves among the world leaders on solar and this ambitious strategy will place right at the cutting edge.
“There is massive potential to turn our large buildings into power stations and we must seize the opportunity this offers to boost our economy as part of our long term economic plan.”
The STA, which co-chaired The Strategy, has praised DECC for launching the first such strategy in Europe and committing to large scale PV deployment on its own buildings.
“It’s a clever move by the UK government to start strategising to maximise its stake in a global market estimated at $134bn by 2020,” said Paul Barwell, STA chief executive.
“The industry couldn’t be keener to work with DECC to realise the benefits of solar power for householders and for UK plc.”
Nick Boyle, ceo for Lightsource Renewable Energy, which has launched a rooftop division is response to today’s strategy announcement, said: “Lightsource is delighted that the government has signalled its commitment to the solar industry through the publication of a Solar Strategy and has publicised its intention to open up the solar market on commercial rooftops.
“Not only is it environmentally sound for businesses to have PV systems installed on the rooftops, it also makes good business sense as they’ll significantly reduce their overall expenditure on energy.”