Fitting solar panels on every new-build home under Labour’s housing plan could generate enough electricity to power an additional 1.17 million homes, according to renewable energy supplier Good Energy.
Their analysis found that installing a typical 4kW solar array on each of the 1.5 million homes Labour aims to build in five years would produce 5.25 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually – around 5% of current domestic usage.
More than 3.1TWh would be surplus energy shared back to the grid.
Each solar-equipped home could save around £313 on energy bills, and earn another £315 from selling excess electricity, delivering households nearly £600 a year.
The findings are based on 12 months of smart meter data from over 900 domestic solar users, showing the average home exports 60% of its generated power.
Good Energy CEO Nigel Pocklington said:
Supporting people to generate their own clean power is a clear and economical way to achieving our climate targets as a country. There is a bias towards thinking only ‘big’ is beautiful in energy… but we’re looking to change that.”
The company is urging government to mandate solar panels on all new homes via the upcoming Future Homes Standard and to improve incentives for retrofits, following the Scottish model of grants and interest-free loans.
Good Energy also called for reform of outdated export rules that limit customer choice and urged greater support for microgenerators.
