P-05-814 All New Builds In Wales To Have Solar Panels –

Correspondence from Petitioner to Committee, 26.06.18

Thank you for the opportunity to present my views.

Having read the attachment, please see below my response. 

The Paris Agreement is a fantastic opportunity to improve the carbon footprint of Wales and I applaud our commitments and targets to obtaining 70% of our electricity from renewable energy by 2030.  With already having 49,000 solar PV units generating 10% energy consumption is a great start.
However I’d be keen to know how that relates to the percentage of houses that have Solar compared to those that don’t. Including council/ government offices, as I have often noticed that these buildings generally do not have solar. The cost savings over time could be passed down to the community for example.  I am aware that roofs facing a certain direction are more appropriate for Solar Panels. It would be interesting to know what percentage of houses in Wales are suitable for Solar due to their roofs position.

I agree the government cutting OnShore Wind and Solar was a disastrous decision. However, when this was running I felt that as a first time home owner I was unable to add the additional costs each month to pay of a “loan” to cover for Solar Panels with the already existing costs of running a home. I feel that to enable a real push for Solar in the future there needs to be an affordable option for everyone, home owners and renters.

I have noticed in my area that there is now 1 college supporting Wind Turbine Engineer course however there are non on Solar. It would be a step forward if in Wales we could invest in our Green Future by investing in the people who will upgrade and maintain the new Solar Panels that will be installed, which I feel is currently lacking in the North.

In addition, there are many farm buildings holding thousands of livestock and equipment that could be potentially suitable for Solar Panels, which wouldn’t mean taking up valuable land.  I understand the problems faced with storing the “electricity” during Summer ready for the Winter months where demand would be stronger.

However, if it is possible to roll out Fibre Optic Broadband nationally to each house within 5 years is there not a way in which this can be emulated with the National Grid network?
For technology moving forward it would be great to see a Solar/Renewable companies based in the North also potentially in the newly opened Menai Science Park.

Providing solar power on an individual level is something I aim for myself, yet I wonder what effect this would have on the economy after the Energy Companies would not be “selling” electricity to homes, due to homes storing and generating their own.

With Electric cars being now a reality having Solar Panels could also make owning an Electric car more appealing.

I encourage Part L and the decarbonisation of personal and business premises and am glad to hear of plans in place and that no planning will be required for Solar Panels. Would renting solar panels be a possibility if prices permitted?

Finally, one of the great advantages to Solar Power is not only is it cheaper than Nuclear by around £40 per unit that it utilises building already used albeit for the source of the power without damaging any more of our countryside for Tidal, Fracking, Hydro or Nuclear energy as proposed at Wylfa B in Anglesey. Which sadly will damage hundreds of acres of land currently undamaged for a resource which has a potential to cause catastrophic environmental problems if problems occurred.

I feel for those reasons that Solar should be vitalised fully before committing to other renewable sources first.

Kindest regards

Harriet King