Department for Education: Renewable Energy

(asked on 20th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2020 to Question 60654 on Renewable energy, what plans his Department has to install solar panels and wind turbines on its buildings in the next five years.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 28th July 2020

The Government Property Agency (GPA) does not currently have funded plans for the installation of solar panels and wind turbines on Department for Education buildings.

However, GPA has a Net Zero Programme in development to support the following UK Government targets:

  • To reduce the UK’s net emissions of greenhouse gases by 100% relative to 1990 levels by 2050, making UK a ‘Net Zero’ emitter.
  • To have at least a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across the public sector estate by 2032 (against a 2017 baseline).

GPA has committed to the following objectives for the Government Office Portfolio:

  1. Improve energy efficiency (reduce consumption/ improve thermal efficiency)
  2. Use green energy (decarbonise)
  3. Generate and store green energy (locally)
  4. Reduce embodied carbon (in construction)

In order to meet objective 3, GPA is currently assessing opportunities for the local generation and storage of green energy on Government Office Portfolio buildings, which may include solar panels and wind turbines.

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