Solar, so good!

Solar generation is key to the UK achieving its de-carbonisation of the energy generation and realising the net zero target by 2050, with this message clearly set out in the Government’s Powering Up Britain published in March 2023. The document establishes that the deployment of both ground and rooftop solar needs to be maximised in order to achieve the overall target.

 

Large scale solar applications of over 50MW are Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) which require permission via application for a Development Consent Order. The primary planning policy on which decisions on NSIP applications are based are the suite of 12 designated National Policy Statements (NPS’s).

 

For energy generation NSIPs, such as solar, the Energy NPS’s, first designated in 2011, are relevant. They establish that there is an urgent need for various types of large-scale energy generation and, under the legislation which established the NSIP regime applications, for those types of energy generation take the Energy NPS’s, and therefore that urgent need, as their starting point.

 

However, those Energy NPS’s were produced and designated at a time when there were still doubts around the ability of large scale solar to contribute to the UK’s energy needs. As a result, large scale solar is not a technology covered in those NPS’s, and every application for large scale solar has instead been required to demonstrate the need for that project and is determined under a separate part of the legislation, with the NPS’s being one matter considered in the planning balance.

 

There have been longstanding calls for the Energy NPSs to be reviewed. That process is now underway and appears to finally be gathering momentum, with the Government now seemingly committed to bring forward new Energy NPSs for designation as soon as possible.

 

The draft NPS EN-3 on renewable energy has been significantly revised to now include solar generation, pumped hydro storage and tidal stream technologies. Specifically, it states that solar also has an important role in delivering the government’s goals for greater energy independence and the British Energy Security Strategy states that government expects a five-fold increase in solar deployment by 2035 (up to 70GW). This sets out a clear need and target for the provision of solar generation across the UK and emphasising its important role in renewable energy generation, providing greater support for solar generation NSIPs.

 

Up until April 2022 there had only been one Solar DCO granted permission. Currently, in total there are two Solar DCOs granted, one awaiting a decision, one undergoing examination, three in pre-examination stage and nine in the pre-application stage due to be submitted in the next year or so. This demonstrates a clear shift towards large scale solar generation in light of that government support which has been long awaited.

 

However, the transitional arrangements included in the emerging EN-3 state that the new policy will only directly apply to those projects which are accepted for examination after the new NPS’s are designated. This is not a typical approach, as normally applications are assessed based on the policy in force at the point of determination. For those solar applications being prepared now it creates a situation where they are still having to demonstrate the need for solar technology, with the emerging NPS remaining as a relevant consideration, and where the unknowns regarding the timing of the NPSs being designated creates uncertainties regarding whether to delay applications or to press ahead with submission.

 

With the NPSs now having acknowledged the important role solar does, and will play in the UK, it seems a missed opportunity to not bring the policy into play as soon as possible and to provide certainty to solar applicants, particularly when considering how overdue the review of the NPSs has become. The support for solar generation in the new NPS’s perhaps explains why there has been a surge in the number of much need large scale solar generation applications over the last year. However, until the revised NPS’s are adopted there remains a level of uncertainty for any NSIP for Solar generation applying for a DCO, and by bringing the policy into force sooner there will be greater certainty which hopefully in itself will encourage further schemes to come forward.

 

The Government is continuing to review the last set of consultation comments on the draft NPS’s, and the transitional arrangements around technologies like solar, is something which will undoubtedly feature heavily in those comments. The NPS’s will then be subject to Ministerial review before being placed before Parliament. Hopefully the recognition of the role solar can play in meeting the country’s energy demand will encourage the Government to review their stance and to make the necessary changes to bring the policy supporting solar into place as soon as possible.