Most new construction houses must be equipped with solar panels

The manufacturers will have to adjust solar panels to the “vast majority” of new buildings in England under changes to publish this year, said energy secretary Ed Miliband.

The regulations will oblige developers to add panels unless the buildings are certain exemptions such as being covered by the shadow.

Addressing the BBC, Miliband said that this decision was “only common sense” adding that solar panels would save the typical £ 500 per year on their energy bills.

The federation of house manufacturers said that it had supported more panels, but warned of the introduction of “heavy” documents which, according to them, could harm the efforts of the government to build 1.5 million new houses by 2029.

The rules will be included in the future Homes standard, which will detail a wider plan to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

The government says it will be published in the fall, but there will be a transition period for developers to adapt to changes in the regulations.

Current construction regulations do not oblige developers to add solar panels to new houses.

The last conservative government has consulted new regulations, including a proposal that new constructions houses should have solar panels on the roof covering the equivalent of 40% in the land area.

However, they were voted beyond power before their proposed modifications could be implemented.

The Labor government is now promising to introduce rules that would force developers to add solar panels to all new versions.

When asked if the government would stick to the 40% figure proposed by the previous conservative government, Miliband said that the details would be stated in the fall.

“The problem concerning the previous system was that he said that you must have a certain percentage of coverage of solar panels, but if you could not reach this percentage, you had nothing to do.

“As part of our plans, we are not going to say that. We will say that even if you cannot reach 40%, you will always have to have solar panels, except in rare exceptional cases.”

Miliband said that the number of houses with solar panels should be “much, much higher” adding: “It must be almost universal”.

When asked if he feared that the developers would impact the cost of adding solar panels to buyers, Miliband said he did not think there would be an effect on house prices.

Neil Jefferson, head of the federation of house manufacturers, said that two in five new houses had solar panels and that the industry “was increasingly used to the integration of solar panels in the construction of new houses”.

“The government just needs to take care to make sure it does not prescribe and did not hold much on the roofs.”

“If each house must be requested on an exemption basis which will slow the delivery of new desperately necessary houses, this administration will be heavy.”

Chris Hewett, from Trade Body Solar Energy Uk, said local authorities should be “vigilant” to ensure that the developers fulfilled their obligations, but added that it would be “easy to apply”.

He also said that he did not expect many houses to be exempt, saying that 90% of New Build Houses should comply with the new rules.

When asked if the sector had the skills necessary to meet the request, Hewett said: “We are certainly aware that we have to train more people … This is something on which we, as an industrial, work.”

The announcement comes a week after the government abandoned a planning rule to facilitate the installation of heat pumps at home.

The increase in solar energy is a way in which the government hopes to reduce the country’s carbon emissions.

The United Kingdom is legally determined to achieve its zero net objective by 2050, which means that the United Kingdom must reduce carbon emissions until it eliminates as much as it produces, in accordance with the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

In 2022, the emissions of residential buildings represented 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United Kingdom.

The government’s advisory body, the climate change committee, said the United Kingdom will not be able to achieve its objectives “without almost complete decarbonization of the housing stock”.

According to the analysis of Carbon Brief, the power generated by solar sites in the United Kingdom has reached record heights this year, partly drawn by particularly sunny time.

Between January and May, the level was 42% higher than the same period in 2024 and marked an increase of 160% in the last decade.

However, solar energy remains the sixth source of electricity in the United Kingdom, behind gas, wind, imports, nuclear and biomass.

The Net-Zero objective has been set by the previous conservative government preserved by work.

However, the recently conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that the objective was “impossible” to achieve “without a serious drop in our standard of living or by going bankrupt”.

Reform UK called for the target to be completely removed, arguing that it has led to higher energy bills, while the Greens and the Liberal Democrats want the government to reach the target faster.

The Liberal Democrats claimed the merit of the government’s decision to mandate solar energy production technology for new houses.

Lib Dem Max Wilkinson’s deputy, who tried to change the law to demand solar energy on Newbuild houses, said that news “would help us fight against the cost of living by lowering people’s energy bills while also reducing carbon emissions”.