Solar-powered homes could be a boon for Yorkshire’s green industry: Danny Wild

Now, with its announcement on mandatory solar panels, it has given some very practical ‘meat on the bones’ to its ambitious (and, for some, controversial) plans to turn the UK into a net zero country by 2050.

Like many ‘green’ initiatives, the solar panels proposal will involve some increased up-front ‘pain’ - raising the cost of building a home by £3,000 to £4,000 - in return for substantial long-term gain: in this case, by saving homeowners around £1,000 a year on energy bills.

Existing householders, meanwhile, are also in line to benefit from a decision that will allow them to apply for grants to upgrade to more sustainable heating systems.

Both changes represent a fantastic opportunity for Yorkshire’s, and the country’s, construction and renewable energy businesses; so long as we have a workforce equipped with the skills to implement them.

Key to achieving this will be close collaboration between industry, third sector campaigning organisations, and education and training providers.

Luckily, in North Yorkshire, such teamwork is already well established. Our area, and Yorkshire as a whole, is blessed with an abundance of innovative businesses that have sustainability at their core.

Those range from firms like Techbuyer, which from its Harrogate base, has grown to become a global supplier of new and quality refurbished IT equipment, to Pure Haus, a Leeds-based eco-home specialist construction company.

Then we have groups like Zero Carbon Harrogate who have formed strong partnerships with businesses, local communities and politicians as they advocate for the changes needed to make the district net-zero carbon by 2030.

As a college committed to delivering targeted green skills training and becoming a Centre of Green Excellence, we have been working with all these partners and more to ensure we are playing a key role in the journey to net zero.

Our work has included running or hosting courses and talks on passive haus techniques, which create homes built to such high sustainability standards they only need minimal heating, and on retrofitting - which upgrades an existing property to significantly improve its energy efficiency.

We are also currently looking to increase our retrofit work by seeking funding to train our teachers in an accredited qualification, so that they can then train others in the construction and social housing industries.

Construction skills are a key part of what the college teaches through our courses in bricklaying, electrical installation, carpentry and more. And from our decades of experience supporting local industry in a fast-changing world, we are acutely aware of how important it is to stay ahead of the curve, especially when it comes to emerging sustainable technologies.

That is why our £22 million complete campus rebuild, which has just secured planning permission and is set to be completed in 2026, will include a dedicated renewable energy technology centre and have a focus on modern building techniques, as well as an electric vehicle (EV) workshop.

This development will enable us to build on our existing work to provide the latest, specialist training using industry-standard facilities.

That in turn will let us help the region’s businesses fully grasp the generational opportunity that the solar homes (and heating upgrade grants) announcement has given us, and do it justice.

If we can achieve that it would represent a major step, for our economy and our environment, towards securing a brighter and cleaner future.

Danny Wild is Principal of Harrogate College