1. Introduction

The Department for Energy and Net Zero published its Solar Roadmap on 30th June 2025. The Roadmap follows the government’s Clean Power Action Plan, published in December 2004 and last updated in April 2025. The Roadmap’s purpose is to lay out the strategy to meet the aggressive government targets for clean energy by 2030.

To achieve this, the Roadmap collates more than 70 actions for industry and government to take in order to accelerate solar deployment.  As noted in the Clean Power Action Plan, the current goal is to deliver 45-47GW of solar capacity by 2030 from a current capacity of 18GW. The Roadmap works through challenges across a range of areas that impact solar deployment including rooftop solar, electricity networks, supply chain, skilled labour, planning, and the role of the public.

This briefing note distils the lessons and key items from the solar roadmap that are most relevant to grid-scale, ground-mounted solar PV farms.

2. Part One: Setting Out

The Roadmap re-iterates some of the benefits of solar energy generation including that it has become the cheapest source of electricity to deploy, with prices dropping by 50% since 2016. Government also expects the deployment of solar to support up to 35,000 direct and indirect jobs such as in the production of parts for solar farms, installation, and maintenance.

The Roadmap also outlines the governments current estimates for deployment pace over the next 10 years based on a number of scenarios including business as usual, the current policy range, and the high potential outcome if additional rooftop barriers are removed. Notably within this section, government figures indicate that even their most optimistic estimates for rooftop solar generation only total 20GW of rooftop solar for both domestic and non-domestic installations, leaving a gap of 25+GW to be filled by large scale solar of which only around 9GW is operational today.

3. Part Two: Actions to Address Key Challenges

One of the key challenges that the Roadmap seeks to address is the uptake of rooftop solar, both domestic and non-domestic. To that end, government has lifted the 1MW cap on commercial rooftop installations requiring full planning permission, now allowing them consent under permitted development rights. Government is also exploring options to accelerate development of solar canopies over car parks and has consulted on the subject but responses are still being examined. Government is also looking to expand the deployment of domestic rooftop solar via a number of mechanisms including the Future Homes Standard, Warm Homes Plan, Private Green Finance, and the Green Finance Institute.

Over the past year, the spectre of grid reform has brought a wave of uncertainty to grid-scale solar projects, but government hopes move to a “first ready, first connected” model will allow accelerated connection for these projects. The Roadmap notes that Ofgem is reviewing the connections process with an eye towards reforming the regulatory framework that governs District Network Operators (DNOs). This is in addition to DNOs now being required to submit project information to National Energy System Operator (NESO, formerly National Grid ESO) during twice yearly Gate Two application windows. Critically, the timings for this is based on the application date rather than the date the information is passed from the DNO to NESO. Ofgem is also expected to review the regulatory arrangements for independent DNOs and consider if they should be brought into alignment with non-independent DNOs.

Government sees the solar supply chain as an opportunity to expand participation of British companies in the sector and will look to assist in scaling up production of solar parts while recognising it is unlikely to be able to compete on conventional panels. There is an increased focus on tackling modern slavery in the current mining of materials and panel production in Xinjiang, China. Companies are encouraged to use the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool to assist them in avoiding forced labour in their supply chains. The Solar Stewardship Initiative will begin to certify sites against its Supply Chain Traceability Standard later this year and is developing guidance for PV buyers at all levels.

In addition to the updates to the NPPF in December 2024, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is expected to be delivered this year and is expected to streamline the consenting process for solar projects. Government is also looking to update NPS EN-1 and EN-3 to provide more consistent guidance to public sector planners. These will be accompanied by renewable energy infrastructure upskilling for planners and councillors to ensure these applications assessed effectively. Government is also looking to produce a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan that will help guide the delivery of solar projects and associated infrastructure. This will be accompanied by a Land Use Framework that will help set out the long-term vision for land use.

Government is setting the expectation that communities that accommodate renewable energy infrastructure will be expected to benefit from hosting it. This can take many forms including flexible community benefit funds, direct household support, and opportunities for community ownership. Government is currently exploring mandatory community benefit funds and published a whitepaper on the idea in May 2025. SEUK is also looking to publish community benefit guidance for developers later this year.

4. Part Three: Implementing the Roadmap and Assessing Achievment

The Roadmap provides for the creation of a Solar Council that will act as a forum between the solar industry and government. This council will oversee the progress towards solar deployment goals and will track solar pipeline to ensure the country remains on track.

5. Solar Energy Scotland & Wales

The UK Solar Roadmap and the Clean Power Action Plan is a UK-wide effort, though the devolved governments will maintain power over aspects they control. For example, the Scottish Government set out a draft solar vision in their draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan in 2023, while the Welsh Government recently consulted on a Just Transition Framework and has publish a Net Zero Skills Action Plan.

The Scottish draft Energy Strategy hasn’t been updated since its publication but the strategy looked to encourage the deployment of solar panels on public buildings, address the skills gap needed for deployment, extend permitted development rights for solar installation, and research the impacts of high-volume solar deployment. Since then, the Scottish Government has expanded permitted development rights for rooftop solar and has committed to an ambition to deliver to scale up solar deployment to six gigawatts by 2030. However they have not confirmed an overall strategy to promote solar and has removed its support for interest-free loans for domestic solar installation.

The Welsh Government has a goal to meet the equivalent of 100% of annual electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2035 and a target of at least 1.5GW of renewable energy to be locally owned by 2035. To achieve this, they consulted on their Just Transition Framework in March 2024 and published the results in June 2024. The current iteration of this document contains little information regarding the role solar is expected to play in this transition or on actions to speed deployment of renewable energy.

6. Take aways

The message of the Solar Roadmap is that government is behind the efforts to increase solar adoption across the country and is exploring all avenues to meet their clean energy goals. The Roadmap itself largely collects goals and commitments from the myriad of government resources on renewable energy and brings them into one coherent strategy to meet deployment timelines. As a result, there are few announcements of new actions that will come as a surprise to solar developers. Solar energy developers and operators will need to track developments within the updates to the NPS and modifications to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill as the year goes on and should consider submitting evidence on the implementation of mandatory community benefit funds.

While there are no changes to the planning regime contained within the document, it is a helpful reminder of the government’s direction of travel with regard to solar and its commitment to ambitious net zero goals. Third Revolution Projects will continue to closely monitor the solar planning landscape as further changes such as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill come into force.

If you have questions about the regulations surrounding solar development or are considering bringing forward a site for planning a solar farm, Third Revolution Projects is expertly placed within the sector to assist.

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