London remains the region with the least solar panels and is falling even further behind, as it increased less than 2 percent in the last quarter with only 1 in 231 London households having solar panels.
New Feed-in-Tariff statistics published by the Department of Energy & Climate Change have shown that:
- London remains the region with the lowest level of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity of mainland Britain and is dropping further behind. The ‘North East’ region (which overtook London in 2012 leaving it bottom), managed to increase its solar PV capacity by 8.5 percent in the latest quarter, London with far higher solar exposure managed less than a 2 percent increase.
- Only 1 in 231 London households have gone ahead with solar panels. The ‘South West’ of England has eight times the rate of installation as London (1 in 29 homes).
London Assembly Member Jenny Jones in July 2014 published ‘London is ready for a brighter future’ a report which looks at the potential of solar and some of the barriers London faces. Jenny invited the Mayor to respond to the report recommendations which included the formation of a dedicated City Hall solar team to help schools, businesses, tenants and communities to benefit from solar generated energy; and to correct his public statement indicating that solar panels can’t be installed in conservation areas.
London Assembly Member Jenny Jones said: “These latest figures are really disappointing as London’s rooftops have the potential to generate about a fifth of London’s annual electricity needs from solar energy”
“As the threat of blackouts and spiralling energy costs loom over us, there is a real hunger from consumers, businesses and schools to maximise solar generated energy. Unfortunately the Mayor of London is failing to put in place the scale of resources and co-ordination to help transform London’s empty rooftops into productive mini power stations”
“And the time to decarbonise and transfer to low and zero carbon energy systems has never been more urgent. On current trends we are now on course for a catastrophic 4 degree temperature increase.”