Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department has put in place to help promote solar power in the UK.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is incentivising large-scale solar through the Contracts for Difference scheme and rooftop solar through various financial and regulatory measures. These include the Smart Export Guarantee, removal of VAT on domestic panels, tax relief and business rate exemptions. The Government is exploring low-cost finance options to support upfront costs for households and businesses and reviewing permitted development rights to simplify planning for commercial projects.
The Government will publish a solar deployment roadmap in 2024 and is establishing a taskforce to drive forward further actions needed to achieve the Government's ambition of around a fivefold increase in solar capacity by 2035.