Renewable energy is one of the ways forward for the UK to mitigate against climate change. Using less fossil fuel, whether oil, gas or coal, is possible if we can produce more renewable energy. Primarily, solar and wind projects are the easiest and cheapest, but tidal and other hydroelectric projects could also produce vast amounts of electricity.

I am discussing a project with potential funders and users whereby we will be examining the opportunities to put solar canopies on all of our car parks. The project is interesting the Key Cities Group which represents 28 medium-sized cities around the country, and a number of members have already expressed interest.

In the southwest, grid capacity is an issue. National Grid believes that there is an excess of supply over demand – in other words, we produce more electricity than we use. They believe that even with the expected increase in consumption in coming years as we introduce more heat pumps to heat (and cool) our homes and as we buy more electric vehicles, that supply will continue to exceed demand. So there is no urgency to allow connection of large-scale renewable energy production to the grid.

Projects can take years to complete

I heard recently that a new solar scheme could take between eight and 15 years to connect to the grid, which is a huge disincentive to the genuinely necessary investment needed to reduce our fossil fuel use.

Because of this, the project to put solar canopies on car parks will have to use the electricity that’s produced in a local scheme. For example, the energy could go into batteries which power EV chargers. Another example would be to run a private wire to a nearby building which could utilise that power, like when someone puts solar panels on a roof. The energy is used inside the house, which saves importing electricity that is much more expensive.

As we head into winter, residential and commercial usage of energy increases. It would be great if everyone had solar panels on their roof and could capitalise on the savings they generate. However, such sizeable investments are inaccessible to most, so it would be good if the large-scale opportunities to produce renewables could be acted on more quickly. Then we could all benefit.