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filter_opacity_hover="100" filter_blur_hover="0" transform_type="regular" transform_hover_element="self" transform_scale_x="1" transform_scale_y="1" transform_translate_x="0" transform_translate_y="0" transform_rotate="0" transform_skew_x="0" transform_skew_y="0" transform_scale_x_hover="1" transform_scale_y_hover="1" transform_translate_x_hover="0" transform_translate_y_hover="0" transform_rotate_hover="0" transform_skew_x_hover="0" transform_skew_y_hover="0" transform_origin="" transition_duration="300" transition_easing="ease" transition_custom_easing="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_color="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_delay="0" animation_offset="" last="true" border_position="all" first="true"][fusion_text columns="" column_min_width="" column_spacing="" rule_style="" rule_size="" rule_color="" hue="" saturation="" lightness="" alpha="" content_alignment_medium="" content_alignment_small="" content_alignment="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" sticky_display="normal,sticky" class="" id="" margin_top="" margin_right="" margin_bottom="" margin_left="" fusion_font_family_text_font="" fusion_font_variant_text_font="" font_size="" line_height="" letter_spacing="" text_transform="" text_color="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_color="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_delay="0" animation_offset=""] Tackling climate change is now a key driver of Government policy - brought into sharper focus by the post Covid energy crisis and the effects on energy prices of the war in Ukraine. But as well as pursuing the ‘net zero by 2050’ target, Government aim to completely de-carbonise our electricity system by 2035. At the UK level, although our main future power sources will be nuclear and wind, solar will also play an increasing role in the energy mix. Solar PV has already made significant progress in supplying us with electricity. Until 2011 its contribution was negligible. But through support at small scales from the Feed in Tariff, and at larger scales through the Renewables Obligation and now Contracts for Difference, in 2021 4% of our electricity was generated by solar. There is now 14GW of solar generating capacity across the UK. The 2022 British Energy Security Strategy set a target of a five-fold increase in deployment (to 70GW) by 2035. But how will this play out? Continuing high electricity prices means there will likely be continued expansion of domestic solar and installations on commercial buildings including farms. The main benefit is reduced reliance on expensive grid-supplied power. Improvements in storage technology will see increased deployment of batteries alongside PV systems so that excess power can be stored for later use, reducing reliance on purchased power further. At larger scales, inclusion of solar PV in the Contracts for Difference mechanism has significantly de-risked large-scale ground based solar. Recent years have seen many proposals for solar farms, with capacities for the largest reaching hundreds of Megawatts and occupying hundreds of hectares of land. This polarises opinion. Supporters say large-scale land based solar is necessary for future energy security. Rent from a solar farm is also a valuable farm diversification. Others say solar should stay on roofs - there are plenty of them and the land solar occupies would be better used to produce food. Planning policy guides solar towards brownfield sites and lower quality agricultural land (grades 3b and below) and away from grades 1, 2 and 3a. However, viability of solar is greatly influenced by available grid capacity. The pattern of this largely determines where solar farms are proposed. The recent proliferation of solar farms led the short-lived Truss led government to suggest that even grade 3b land would be off limits for solar. However, with grid capacity limited, blocking access to 3b land would severely restrict where land based solar could go – at any scale. The uncertainty continues under the Sunak led government but the issue requires urgent clarification or investment into UK solar power will stall, frustrating the effort to decarbonise electricity supplies. This blog post is written by Graham Clark, Senior Land Use Policy Advisor at the CLA. [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]