England could produce 13 times more renewable energy than it does now, while using less than 3% of its land, analysis has found.
Onshore wind and solar projects could provide enough electricity to power all the households in England two and a half times over, the research by Exeter University, commissioned by Friends of the Earth (FoE), suggested.
Currently, about 17 terawatt hours of electricity a year comes from homegrown renewables on land. But there is potential for 130TWh to come from solar panels, and 96TWh from onshore wind.
These figures are reached by only taking into account the most suitable sites, excluding national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty, higher grade agricultural land and heritage sites.
Some commentators have argued that solar farms will reduce the UK’s ability to grow its own food, but the new analysis suggests there is plenty of land that can be used without impairing agricultural production. More land is now taken up by golf courses than solar farms, and developers can be required to enhance biodiversity through simple measures such as maintaining hedgerows and ponds.
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The calculations of the land needed exclude rooftop solar panels. Ministers have resisted calls for solar panels to be made mandatory on new-build housing. Kitting out a new-build home with renewables, high-grade insulation and other low-carbon features costs less than £5,000 for a housing developer, but retrofitting it to the same standard costs about £20,000, with the cost borne by the householder. Housing developers are among the largest donors to the Conservative party.
A distributed grid with lots of little suppliers is hard to manage and less efficient. The only benefit is space and financing. Most people would pay to sponsor a power station (except automatically through pensions), but many would buy solar panels.
The UK also has cold shorter days in the winter and plenty of wind. So wind turbines are going to be a better investment. Additional power connections with Europe would help manage renewable supply and demand.
Putting this cost on homes, is going to upset a lot of voters. Those with properties won’t like the additional cost, or comparative devaluing of property without solar panels. Those buying will be unhappy with the increased house prices, which the papers will blame on solar panels. So it’s a hard battle for any political party in the UK especially with the dominance of right wing media.
Plus the current Prime Ministers non-dom billionaire wife has substantial investment in oil companies. The same oil companies that won extraction right from Israel in Gaza soon after the PM announced his support for Israel’s war in Gaza.