The solar industry very much welcomes the addition of guidance on solar PV to the National Policy Statement for renewable energy infrastructure. However, there are several provisions which could be strengthened, which we have outlined below.
This equates to roughly 40GW of solar by 2030, and the solar industry body, Solar Energy UK, has demonstrated in its 2021 report “Lighting the Way” that this target is possible. We recommend that a target for solar generation should be included in the NPS.
The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, in their 2022 Implementation Plan on Promoting New Energy's High-Quality Development, set a target to reach a combined installed capacity of over 1.2 TW for wind and solar power by 2030.
1.1.5 This National Policy Statement (NPS), taken together with the Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (EN-1), provides the primary policy for decisions by the Secretary of State on applications they receive for nationally significant renewable energy infrastructure defined at Section 1.6 of this NPS.
1.6.2 In England, this NPS will also apply to renewable generation proposals of the types listed above, whose capacity is below the relevant threshold, which are directed into the NSIP regime under section 35 of the Planning Act 2008.
However, unlike offshore wind, nowhere in EN-3 or the NZS has the Government set a generation target for solar. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has identified a need to deploy 54GW of solar by 2035 to keep on track to deliver net zero by 2050.