We're unleashing a rooftop solar revolution in Yorkshire - Ed Miliband
When children at Feversham Primary Academy in Bradford come back after the summer holidays, their school will have lower bills thanks to solar panels installed by Great British Energy.
Feversham is one of 200 schools and 200 hospitals getting solar panels from Britain's publicly owned energy company this year—cutting their bills so money can be spent on teachers, nurses and frontline services instead.
Earlier this month Great British Energy announced its next step will be to work with mayors to do the same for community buildings, including Yearsley swimming pool, Whitby Leisure Centre, and Thirsk & Sowerby Leisure Centre.
These projects offer a glimpse of the rooftop solar revolution that the government is unleashing here in Yorkshire and across the country, as part of our Plan for Change. And they are just the start.
Families and businesses across Yorkshire have seen their energy bills soar in recent years due to our exposure to fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators like Putin.
Installing solar is one of the quickest ways to take back control of our energy. It can immediately cut a family’s energy bill by around £500 a year.
People often ask me why so many homes are being built without solar on their roofs. They say it doesn’t make any sense—and I agree with them.
That’s why last month, we announced plans to ensure solar is installed on new build homes as standard. Meanwhile, the government is investing £13.2bn to upgrade 5m existing homes with measures such as solar panels through our Warm Homes Plan.
Harnessing the abundant energy of the sun to cut bills for families and businesses is just common sense.
But while we know there is huge potential to use rooftops for solar far better than we do currently, this will not be enough to get off the fossil fuel rollercoaster. The reality is we need large scale solar projects too.
I know this isn’t popular with everybody and it is right that every project is assessed on its merits, with communities having a say on infrastructure in their area. But it is also true that every solar panel we put up makes our country more secure and helps build an energy system that can bring down bills for everyone for good.
There are a lot of myths in this debate, and it is important we take them on.
At the moment solar takes up just 0.1 per cent of our land area. The biggest threat to farming and the countryside doesn’t come from clean energy, it comes from the climate crisis, with extreme weather already hitting farmers’ incomes.
And we know solar can sit alongside other uses of land, such as livestock grazing, offering a vital source of income for farmers.
Our government believes we need to build things again in this country. That is why, after years of projects languishing on ministers’ desks, my department has consented more solar in 12 months than the previous 14 years combined—so we can get on with building projects that will power the equivalent of almost a million homes with cheaper, clean energy.
Through these steps we are putting solar at the heart of our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower—delivering energy security, lower bills and good jobs to make working people better off today, as we protect our home for generations to come.
Ed Miliband is the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary and MP for Doncaster North.