Energy Sharing Communities can connect renters to solar power

The number of homes in the UK with rooftop solar panels has skyrocketed in the past 15 years, from 28,211 in 2010 to 1.39 million in May 2024. That’s an increase of 4,827%, and we’re proud to have played out part by installing solar PV on thousands of roofs already, but the number of UK homes that can be easily equipped with solar PV may have a ceiling. 

According to the English Housing Survey 2022 to 2023, the rental sector makes up 35% of households in England and accounts for more than 8.5 million homes. The majority of these are rented from private landlords who may have little incentive to install solar panels for tenants, and even if they did there are physical limits to access when multiple households share a single roof, for instance in a block of flats. 

We want to bring clean, affordable energy to as many UK homes as we can, and especially to the more vulnerable households that are statistically more likely to be in rented accommodation. With Energy Sharing Communities, we can do exactly that. 

Beating solar’s limits with Energy Sharing Communities

There are billions of square meters of roof space in the UK, but relatively little of it belongs to domestic properties whether privately owned or rented. In fact, many of the largest roofs belong to public buildings such as schools and hospitals, public-facing businesses such as supermarkets, and industrial concerns that own warehouses. 

It arguably doesn’t matter where solar electricity is being generated so long as it makes its way to the homes that need it, but there are some caveats. Large centralised solar farms can occupy green belt land and therefore receive resistance from some quarters, but they also add to the demand on the UK’s developing electricity infrastructure.  

Energy Sharing Communities give households of all kinds access to green and affordable solar electricity without requiring any new infrastructure or even significant public investment. They do this by placing solar PV on the roofs of public and private buildings including schools, hospitals, and supermarkets, helping services and businesses to cover their energy needs before selling surplus to the local community at an affordable price. 

Because the electricity generated goes directly to local consumers, we feel they should share the benefits. If they did, there would be little need for partaking households to install their own solar systems or for additional infrastructure at the national scale, meaning that anyone anywhere can access solar power regardless of whether they own or rent, have access to a roof, or decide to move home. No wonder that, according to a nationally representative survey of 2,000 people we commissioned from YouGov, 93% of respondents said they support the idea of energy sharing communities. 

We can help renters access solar right now 

We’ve already said that the electricity generated by a school, hospital, or supermarket as part of an energy sharing community flows directly to the nearest consumer. But this isn’t currently reflected in the way that electricity is priced. 

At the moment, transmission costs and other levies for electricity that is moved over the high voltage grid are also applicable to locally generated solar power even though it doesn’t undergo the same journey. By removing these additional costs for the ‘prosumers’ who are generating clean power for their communities, the UK could make energy sharing a reality with one straightforward change of policy. 

That's why we’re working to set up a pilot energy sharing community in Britain, and are keen to work with the Government on unlocking this approach’s massive potential for helping the country achieve net zero, supporting public services, improving energy security, and making sure everyone has access to clean, affordable energy, no matter where they’ve made their home. 

To learn more about Energy Sharing Communities, read: How we hope to empower communities across the UK.