London to be zero carbon city by 2050 through "solar revolution"

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is preparing the city for a “solar revolution” to help meet an ambitious zero carbon target by 2050.

Khan published on Friday a draft London Environment Strategy, including a draft Solar Action Plan, according to which the capital needs to build up a solar energy capacity of about 2 GW by 2050 in order to become a zero carbon city.

London’s current installed solar capacity amounts to 95 MW.

The Mayor listed a number of actions within his powers that could help add at least 100 MW of installed solar energy generation in London by 2030. Those include: maximising solar energy technologies on Greater London Authority (GLA) group buildings and land; encouraging solar energy installations through the planning system; helping citizens retrofit solar energy technologies on their homes and workplaces through Mayoral programmes and funding; and helping Londoners make informed decisions about investing in solar energy technologies.

Some specific steps include piloting a new solar reverse auction scheme to cut installation costs for citizens, and developing a grants scheme to help kick off community solar energy projects. An interactive map identifying solar energy generation potential will also be produced.

The Mayor’s leadership and programmes alone, however, will not be enough to boost solar capacity to 1 GW by 2030 and 2 GW by 2050. For this reason, Khan will advocate that consistent and long-term national policy is set to support higher levels of small-scale solar deployment in London.

A public consultation on the draft London Environment Strategy is now open until November 17.

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