Max Wilkinson Liberal Democrat MP created a private members bill which would mandate solar photovoltaic panels on new homes from October 2026. The bill was given its second reading in the Houses of Parliament last Friday (17th Jan).

After more than two hours of debate in the Houses of Parliament, the government announced it would not support the bill, citing concerns over tight timescales, the availability of suitable roofspace for certain designs, and inadequate transitional arrangements. These issues, it was argued, could ultimately hinder the supply of new homes.

However, it was confirmed that the Future Homes Standard being introduced later this year would likely have a requirement of solar photovoltaic panels within the notional dwelling that sets the energy efficiency requirements.

Solar PV and Current Building Regulations

Part L does not currently mandate any particular form of technology. The use of a notional dwelling to set the energy efficiency requirements gives builders flexibility in specification and compliance can be achieved in many different ways.

The Future Homes Standard consultation proposed two options for the energy efficiency standards. Option 1 would see the notional dwelling include solar photovoltaic, and Option 2 would not. Option 1 with solar photovoltaic would deliver homes with higher carbon savings and lower bills than Option 2, but would come at a higher cost to the builder.

It could still be possible to achieve option 1 without the use of solar photovoltaics by increasing specification elsewhere. Had the bill been successful then option 1 would likely be selected as the basis of the notional dwelling used for the Future Homes Standard.

Elmhurst’s New Build Dwellings Manager, Jason Hewins, comments: “Since the Future Homes Standard consultation closed last year there has been a lot of debate in the industry about the viability of solar photovoltaics on all new homes, and areas such as cost, limits in suitable roof area and supply chain that have to be taken into account when determining how much solar photovoltaics can be set in the notional dwelling. In reality if option 1 is selected as the basis for the notional dwelling it is expected most new homes would have solar photovoltaics anyway. We eagerly await the publication of the consultation responses and new approved documents later this year”.