Stakeholders had been keenly awaiting the advent of the “solar roadmap” promised in the UK Government’s December 2024 Clean Power 2030 Action Plan (as noted in our previous Law-Now). As advertised, the document, published on 30 June 2025 (the “Roadmap”), outlines a strategy to reach 45-47 GW of installed solar capacity, as a key tenet of the Government’s ambition for all UK electricity demand to be met from clean sources by 2030.
The Roadmap identifies a number of obstacles that have held back the growth of the solar sector to date, including real estate constraints and regulatory and cost barriers, and identifies a number of actions to help to overcome these obstacles. Progress will be overseen by the newly established Solar Council, co-chaired by government and industry, which will monitor implementation and provide a platform for ongoing collaboration.
In this Law-Now, we consider some of the key actions envisaged in the Roadmap, loosely grouped by relevance to stakeholders across the sector, whether their projects are domestic, small-scale commercial or large-scale commercial and whether rooftop, ground-mounted or new technology.
Mid-to-large-scale solar projects
Revenues and costs: The Roadmap points to the Government’s consultation on further reforms to the Contracts for Difference scheme for Allocation Round 7. Since the Roadmap was published, the Government has issued its response to the consultation, which confirms the Government’s intention (among other things) to: (i) increase the target commissioning window for solar projects from three months to twelve months (to reflect the increasing size of solar projects under development and the extent of the associated risks) and (ii) increase the duration of CfDs for technologies including solar from fifteen years to twenty (in the hope of reducing the overall cost to consumers by bringing down strike prices).
Grid connections: Challenges in obtaining grid connections, driven by pressures flowing from the energy transition, have been a hot topic for entities across the electricity sector in recent years. The Roadmap points to the ongoing transmission connection reform project as a means of accelerating connections for solar projects up to a designated capacity in each region of the UK, and to Ofgem’s end-to-end connections review, as vehicles to address these challenges (see our previous Law-Now on these existing regulatory initiatives).
The Roadmap also refers to Ofgem’s decision in May 2025 to approve an industry code modification (CUSC Modification Proposal 446) to raise the threshold at which generation projects connecting to a distribution network will require a Transmission Impact Assessment from 1MW to 5MW, which is likely to streamline the connection process for projects within that size range.
Other potential measures the Roadmap indicates may help to accelerate grid connections for solar projects include encouragement of supergrid transformers (which can boost available connection capacity at transmission substations) by reviewing how the cost of them is recovered through network charges, and reforming the planning requirements for distribution lines carried on wooden poles (which are currently treated as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects if the cable route is longer than 2km).
Planning: Legislation to raise the threshold for solar projects to constitute Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects from 50MW to 100MW will come into effect at the end of the year. This will allow solar projects within that size range to be consented via the local planning route, which is likely to bring costs and timescales down for developers of such projects.
New technologies / applications: The Government is considering further support for floating solar, e.g. by keeping their ability to compete for CfD support (given the relative costs and risks they face) under review and exploring whether there are any planning levers that could be used to assist.
Commercial rooftop solar (and other smaller commercial projects)
Revenues and costs: In principle, Great Britain should be a favourable environment for behind the meter roof top solar – given in particular relatively high prices for power from the grid and the relatively low penetration of rooftop solar on commercial properties. However, the Roadmap recognises a key challenge that we often see for rooftop solar projects on commercial premises (e.g. at offices, warehouses, retail parks and industrial estates): the legal and regulatory complexities in putting the necessary land rights and power purchase arrangements in place, while navigating existing tenant repair covenants and construction warranties, can be perceived as disproportionate to the incentives for introducing solar. The Roadmap hints at an intention to simplify matters for commercial rooftop solar, at least in the context of retrofit on existing buildings, e.g. by promoting the development of industry standard forms and guidance.
Grid connections: While commercial developments including rooftop solar projects (e.g. on industrial estates) are in principle well-suited to grid connections provided by Independent Distribution Network Operators (IDNOs), notes that lack of uniformity in IDNO connection processes can erode some of the benefits developers might otherwise see from competition in connection, and encourages the Independent Networks Association to drive greater consistency. The Roadmap also notes that Ofgem should have completed its review of regulatory arrangements for IDNOs (heralded by its open letters of October 2023 and March 2024) by the end of 2025, which may provide further assurance for commercial developers.
Government investment in public schemes: The Roadmap notes an intent to work with local government and community energy groups to identify opportunities for renewable investment, giving the announcement in March 2025 of a project to install rooftop solar at around 200 schools and 200 hospitals, co-funded by Government and Great British Energy, as an example.
New technologies / applications: The Roadmap refers to the Government’s May 2025 call for evidence on proposals for the mandatory deployment of solar canopies at new outdoor car parks. The Government also states an intent to work with industry on exploring opportunities for agrivoltaics (dual-use land for farming and solar).
Domestic rooftop solar
Revenues and costs: The Roadmap envisages that the Government will be “setting out significant action through the… Warm Homes Plan, to maximise the number of solar-powered homes”, implying that the intent is to make grants or loans available to support the deployment of domestic rooftop solar.
Grid connections: DNOs have introduced a new “Fast Track” G99 consent process for generation units up to 14.72 kW. While DNO approval is still required before connection, the response time for Fast Track applications is 10 working days, which can significantly expedite the consent process.
Regulatory drivers: Measures contemplated by the Roadmap include: (i) a requirement via the Future Homes Standard (due to be published in Autumn 2025) for solar to be installed on “the vast majority of new build homes”; (ii) introducing a “smart readiness” metric as part of wider reforms of the Energy Performance Certificates regime so as better to reflect the value of solar; (iii) enhancing consumer protection and installation standards for domestic occupiers with rooftop solar; and (iv) collaborating with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to ensure solar is properly valued in residential property markets.
Additional support for social landlords: The Government is exploring additional incentives for social landlords to provide solar access to tenants, such as introducing a specific Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard for social homes.
New technologies / applications: The Roadmap proposes a safety review to assess the potential for plug-in solar – small systems that connect directly to household sockets, which are currently not allowed in the UK.
Conclusion
Many of the proposals in the Roadmap are light on detail at this stage, and it will be important to see the extent to which actions are moved forward, and how and when.
The Roadmap is far from comprehensive in addressing the key obstacles faced by solar developers. For example, there is no mention of:
- the very limited revenue that can be obtained from exporting power to the grid (e.g. where there is insufficient demand on site or on-site power purchase arrangements fall away), which can be a critical hurdle to commercial viability;
- the costs of removing solar panels once installed and challenges in realising value elsewhere, which can present commercial risks where power purchase arrangements terminate before capex is recovered; or
- the barriers that can arise from an electricity regulatory perspective, e.g. in the context of the electricity licensing and licence exemptions regime, in particular on more complex / larger scale projects, and the change-in-law risks that come with this.
A key part of the Roadmap which may determine the success of the plans and future initiatives is collaboration. Central government, devolved administrations, local authorities and industry groups will need to work together to ensure public bodies can process more solar applications and take effective decisions to drive solar projects forward. Rooftop solar also often requires the Real Estate and Energy sectors to dovetail and speak each other’s language.
The rollout of additional solar power is part of a much broader picture in the Government’s Clean Power 2030 ambition. The Roadmap has come among a raft of renewable policy papers, including the Government’s Onshore Wind Taskforce Strategy (on which see our recent Law-Now here).
