The Government has announced that as part of the Future Homes Standard (FHS), building regulations will be amended to explicitly promote the installation of solar panels on new homes for the first time, subject to practical limits.

The National Federation of Builders (NFB) has responded that they support the proposals, however they have stated that the main barriers to mandating solar panels on all new buildings are grid costs and grid delays.

Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the NFB, said: “The main barriers to mandating solar panels on all new buildings are grid costs and grid delays. Although not yet fully resolved, the Government have made real progress to fixing those issues, particularly through changes to the connection process, and planning reforms that ensure grid infrastructure funding goes further and faster.

“If grid connections are timely and not cost prohibitive, solar for new buildings is deliverable and we support that ambition. We urge the Government to ensure planning is reformed so that councils cannot oppose solar on the grounds of being out of character.”

The NFB has however warned that a cost cap on solar installations which ‘fully funds the panels and includes a nominal charge for grid connection and reinforcement’ should be implemented to prevent harming local builders and delaying tens of thousands of homes and so putting a leash on growth.

Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy and Market Insight for the NFB and House Builders Association (HBA), said: “No housebuilder should be in a position where they are only able to provide connections for part of their site, receive no written promises on the date of connections and grid reinforcement, pay for temporary connections and then again for permanent ones, or be forced to fund infrastructure that the energy sector profits from in perpetuity. Yet this is the present situation and as we electrify all new buildings, more projects will be impacted. 

“Another tax on housebuilders is also a tax and burden on the entire construction industry, because contractors are paid by clients, who with shrinking levels of funding, pay less, pay late or scrap projects entirely.”