Sadiq Khan’s ‘Draft Solar Action Plan for London’ Presents opportunities for Housing Associations

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan recently published a Draft Solar Action Plan For London. The intention is to provide a number of innovative mechanisms to encourage public sector organisations and providers of social housing with the incentives and technical assistance to retrofit buildings with the installation of solar PV and thermal systems.

Here is a list of Initiatives and Support Mechanisms from the plan:

Reverse Solar Auctions

In a solar reverse auction, the roles of seller and buyer are reversed. Multiple buyers state their intention to purchase solar panels, and their demand is pooled together in order to become a single buyer. The sellers of solar panels subsequently need to compete to sell the solar panels at increasingly lower prices. The bulk-buying mechanism will help to lower the costs of solar panels for housing associations and organisations for individual homes.

Energy Leap

The Draft Plan will also seek to support the increased ability to install solar energy technologies and new payment mechanisms through the Mayor’s Leap Energy project. This will include the delivery of some of the first zero-energy retrofits in London along with post-retrofit valuations to assess the value of solar energy technologies on properties.

Solar Mapping Tool

In 2018, the Mayor will produce an interactive mapping tool to assess solar energy generation potential across London. The tool will provide access to information on solar PV and thermal technologies, available support mechanisms and information regarding certification schemes.

RE:NEW

In order to support the installation of solar PV on London’s social housing, the Mayor will seek to introduce a successor to the current RE:NEW programme. RE:NEW provides technical support to social housing providers on the available mechanisms to install renewable energy technologies and increase energy efficiency.

Community Solar

The Mayor will develop a new grants scheme designed to help community energy groups increase the uptake of solar energy projects. This will coincide with the development of Community Energy London, which aims to promote networking opportunities amongst organisations.

The Draft Plan is currently under public consultation until 17^th November 2017. Following analysis and consideration of all the responses received during the consultation, the Solar Action Plan will be published in 2018.

For more information on The Draft Solar Action Plan click here.

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