New Homes to Include Solar Panels By Default

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10 June 2025

Under the Future Homes Standard, the “vast majority” of new build homes will be fitted with solar power.

The proposed Future Homes Standard is set to be published in autumn 2025 and includes changing building regulations to explicitly promote solar for the first time.

Based on the government’s Home Energy Assessment Tool, a typical UK home could save around £530 a year from installing rooftop solar, based on the current energy price cap. This calculation is based on a typical 3.5 kW south-facing installation using the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) methodology. 

Initial Future Homes Standard proposals mandated solar panel coverage equivalent to 40 per cent of the building’s floor area or “none at all”. Under the new proposals, if developers cannot meet the 40 per cent coverage, they would still be required to install a “reasonable amount” of solar coverage.

Trevor Hutchings, Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association (REA), said: “The growth of solar power has been one of the UK’s biggest renewable energy success stories, demonstrating without a doubt that we don’t have to choose between lowering our emissions and lowering household energy bills. 

“Today’s announcement - which the REA has long campaigned for - takes this one step further – not only enabling thousands of future homeowners to experience the benefits of affordable and clean power, but supercharging growth in the British renewable energy industry and driving forward our energy transition.

Picture: a photograph showing a close of up of a solar panel. Image Credit: Pexels

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 10 June 2025

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