Labour’s Energy Policy Will Require 100 Million More Solar Panels
Labour’s election promise to eliminate carbon from the UK’s electricity supply by 2030 would require an additional 100 million solar panels to be installed over the next 15 years. That’s according to calculations produced by renewables firm EvoEnergy.
The commitment to introduce this as a legal target in the event of a majority Labour government following next month’s general election would require almost 700,000 panels to be installed each year – equivalent to an area the size of almost 1,500 football pitches. In total, almost 26GW extra self-generation would be required on top of the 5GW of power already produced through solar energy in the UK.
Tim Hickman, Technical Manager for EvoEnergy says, “Committing to making the power network carbon free by 2030 is a big ask and will depend very much on political will and effective bipartisanship on the part of the big parties.
“Of course in reality, meeting this target wouldn’t be achieved through solar alone, but whatever the mix of clean energy generation that’s chosen, EvoEnergy is ready and willing to make its contribution.”
EvoEnergy’s figures are based on the number of typical 250Wp panels that would be required to save 178.5 million tonnes of CO2, the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the UK’s energy supply in 2013.
The company’s alculations were made based on a typical install in Nottingham at a five-degree pitch, 45 degrees either side of south and using a mean average for panel generation.
