The Green Party has set an ambitious solar PV generation target of 25GW by 2020 in its 2015 election manifesto, backed by the promise of a £35 billion investment in renewable energy generation over the course of the next parliament.
The manifesto, launched today, also sets out aims to have rooftop solar installations on every school, hospital and public building by 2020 and drastically reduce planning constraints until 2030 in order to encourage solar development in the country.
The Greens state the eye-catching £35 billion investment will be paid for by granting the Green Investment Bank with full borrowing powers, while Local Authorities will be allowed to fund large and medium-scale renewable energy projects.
And the party has also pledged long-term, stable fixed-price feed-in tariffs in order to encourage greater uptake of renewable energy installations.
The manifesto claims that the policies will be paid for in part by the cancellation of all fossil fuel subsidies and grants. The party has also pledged to phase out nuclear power within ten years and to close all coal-fired power plants by 2023 at the latest.
A central theme to the Greens’ energy policy is community generation and the party has set a target of 42GW of community power generation by 2020, to be accelerated by forcing DNOs to give priority grid access to community energy generation projects.
The Greens state that their aim is to end fuel poverty in the country and drastically reduce the power of the ‘Big Six’ energy companies, something which tallies with energy policies outlined by the Labour party which launched its own manifesto yesterday morning.
The Conservatives are to launch their own manifesto later this morning (Tuesday), with the Liberal Democrats and UKIP set to follow later this week.
Large-Scale Solar UK will be hosting a session on the General Election and its impact on the sector on 30 April. Tickets can be purchased here.