Looking at where solar panels go could protect green fields, a Conservative former minister has said in a debate about electricity generation from newbuild roofs.
Wendy Morton called for “alternatives” to using countryside land for energy generation as the Liberal Democrats’ Max Wilkinson introduced his New Homes (Solar Generation) Bill.
Mr Wilkinson, the MP for Cheltenham, said his proposal to require newbuilds to come with solar panels as standard – also known as the Sunshine Bill – is a “win-win” for both the planet and billpayers’ budgets.
Intervening in his speech, Ms Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) told the Commons on Friday: “In the shift towards more solar panels, I fear many of those will go on prime agricultural land.”
She added that “it’s time we need to look at alternatives, look at where the solar panels are being placed as a way of protecting communities and our green belt”.
Brought before MPs as a private member’s Bill, Mr Wilkinson’s proposals have received support from executives at several companies, including renewables firm Ecotricity and the housebuilder Thakeham.
If it becomes law, newbuilds would come with solar panels covering at least 40% of their ground floor area, with exemptions for smaller roofs which cannot physically accommodate panels, tall buildings more than 15 storeys high, developments where panels would not prove cost-effective, and projects featuring other forms of renewable energy generation.
Ms Morton later said in a follow-up: “I think this is becoming increasingly, shall I say, worrying, because we are now starting to see policy around grey belt.
“I really fear that if we do not really thoroughly grasp the issue of where solar panels are going and battery storage and all the other renewables, we risk green belt all of a sudden in a few years’ time be then defined as grey belt, and it risks being built on.”
Turning to cost, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer warned an event similar to recent wildfires in Los Angeles could “dwarf” the cost of rolling out solar panels on roofs.
She said: “If we are to meet the Government’s targets to ramp up solar capacity – and of course, I hope we do – then we should be looking up.
“The Los Angeles wildfires are on track to be among the costliest as well as the most heartbreaking in US history, with losses already expected to exceed £109.7 billion.
“Failing to decarbonise at speed in line with the climate science will dwarf the costs of future-proofing our homes.
“The moral case for acting is now unequivocal and so is the economic one.”
Several MPs called on the Government to consider supporting panels on existing homes, as well as public and industrial buildings.
Labour MP for North East Hertfordshire Chris Hinchliff said: “We face many challenging decisions locally to balance the need for renewable energy with the protections of our high-quality farmland, whilst also preserving and enhancing space for nature.
“So it is unsurprising that residents in North East Hertfordshire can clearly see the common sense in putting the solar panels we need on rooftops.”
His Labour colleague Katie White (Leeds North West), later warned the “choice that’s being put about between solar farms and rooftop solar is not a zero-sum game – they both have a distinct role”.
But Roz Savage, the Liberal Democrat MP for South Cotswolds, called on MPs to “keep our countryside beautiful and it adds insult to injury for the people of Hullavington, Luckington and Sherston to see massive new warehouses and new homes springing up with not a solar panel in sight”.
Conservative MP for Herne Bay and Sandwich Sir Roger Gale said he would support the Bill.
He said: “In east Kent, we are losing grade one agricultural land far too frequently to both development and to the use for solar power generation, and it’s completely unnecessary.
“As I’ve said many times… we have acres and acres of rooftops in public ownership on public buildings and schools, hospitals, prisons, in addition to acres of car park space.”
Mr Wilkinson earlier said there was a “clear market preference for home with solar panels because a relatively small proportion of the price will be rewarded with a decent payback”, and pointed to research by the MCS Foundation which showed panels on the Labour Government’s target of 1.5 million homes would bolster energy generation by the equivalent of two Sizewell C nuclear power stations (3.2 gigawatt each).
He told MPs: “This Bill helps us tackle the cost of living and climate change too, a clear win-win.”
Mr Wilkinson quoted from Morecambe and Wise’s Bring Me Sunshine when he said: “‘Let our arms be as warm as the sun up above’ and let us think about how ‘much joy we can bring to each brand new bright tomorrow’ (sic).”
