The UK Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) has issued a solar roadmap, setting out guiding principles for deployment of solar in the UK.
According to the roadmap, support for solar PV should enable viable projects to proceed and help the UK to meet carbon emission objectives, which in turn will help meet the country’s target of 15% renewable energy from total consumption by 2020.
The roadmap also urges to examine whether the proposals are properly sited; as well as consider and address environmental concerns including landscape and visual impact, heritage and local amenity.
Additionally, the roadmap also underscores the need for public comment from local communities, providing opportunities to influence decisions that affect them.
In addition, the impacts of deployment on: grid systems balancing; grid connectivity; and financial incentives should be properly assessed and addressed.
Having deployed almost 2.5GW of solar and installed solar PV across the country, the DECC central forecast expects the solar installation to reach 10GW by 2020, while the roadmap 2012 analysis has revealed 20GW is the technical maximum level of solar deployment by 2020.
UK minister of state for energy and climate change Gregory Barker said as solar energy is central to renewable energy growth, 20GW installation can be achieved within a decade should all work in closer partnership and achieve grid parity sooner.
“Delivering such an ambition will require even greater innovation, new skills, relentless downward pressure on costs – right through the whole supply chain and a much more dynamic grid network – all of which we will seek to examine in the full strategy which we will publish early next year,” added Barker.