New paper suggests UK needs 80GW of solar to meet net zero target

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 A new whitepaper - recently released by the leading consultancy firm Atkins - has suggested that the UK will need to deploy 80GW of solar, in addition to 20-30GW of battery storage, in order to meet its net zero target, a target it is currently falling well short of.


We are always interested in projections with regards to how the solar industry in the UK is currently performing, so to see such a stark need for further solar panel installations and smart battery storage across the UK definitely caught our eye.

The news was particularly notable as it made direct reference to the UK’s net zero target, a key aim for the government given their 2019 step of becoming the first major economy to declare they want to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

While the UK has managed to reduce 1990 levels by 42% thus far, it is useful at times to have some constructive critique alongside the success stories, so the Atkins findings could provide a sobering and, hopefully, motivational moment for continued improvement.

Specifically, the whitepaper found that the 80GW of solar would need to be implemented at a  rate of 2.67GW/yr, but the 2019 rate in the UK was just 0.26GW/yr for solar PV, which is clearly under 10% of the target that Atkins have outlined as being necessary.

Dr David Cole, one of the leading voices on power generation assets at Atkins, shared “similar intervention is now required across nuclear, new technologies and other energy sources so that the UK energy industry can construct the above number of facilities in enough time. When we face an enormous challenge and uncertainty people often ask, ‘what is plan B?’. The truth is we don’t have Plan A."

Of course, there is always scope to increase that rate and there does seem to be a measure of commitment to utilising solar across the UK, but the current societal and economic challenges don’t make that any easier, so it will be interesting to see the 2020 figures in due course.

We are certainly fully behind any move towards net zero emissions, so we can only hope that these findings prove to be unfounded in their worry and that the UK gains apace with its commitment to a renewable energy future that sees them become net zero by 2050.


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