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Government Keen On Raising Take Up Of Commercial Rooftops For Solar Panels

On more than one occasion we have made our views clear with regard to some of the things that need to happen in order for the UK to achieve its renewable energy target by 2020. It is important that as many large solar arrays are installed but of course taking into account the views of the local community.

Greg Barker is a keen advocate of solar power- Image credit: University of Salford Press Office.

There would appear to be an awful lot of scope to utilize the rooftops of numerous commercial buildings on our trading estates and retail parks around the UK for solar panels. It would be interesting if you were in a position to have a birds-eye view of a typical trading estate as there is no doubt that you would find a larger percentage of buildings without solar panels fitted to their rooftops.

It is interesting that Greg Barker who is the minister for climate change has said that the Department of Communities and Local Government are to discuss over the summer period the possibility of making it easier to install solar panels on commercial properties with large roofs with a capacity of up to 1MW.

He has also confirmed that on 9th September 2014 he is to host a meeting of solar stakeholders including developers of solar panels, estate agents, large retailers, solicitors and landlords with a view to getting rid of the barriers that exist between some landlords and their tenants when it comes to installing solar panels.

Apparently, according to DECC, there are about 250,000 hectares of roof space on commercial properties that are facing south that would be suitable for the installation of solar panels.

It will be interesting to see what transpires from these initiatives in the coming months. It is forecast that if only a part of the available commercial rooftop space were used for solar panels then it would make a big dent in the 20GW target the UK is striving to achieve by 2020.

We will keep you updated.

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