Dr Neil Hudson, Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border, alongside 29 cross party MPs have penned a joint letter to Solar Energy UK calling on the Solar industry to introduce standardized community compensation packages.
The Wind industry already has set compensation offerings of £5000 per MW, per year of operation, or equivalent in-kind benefits. This ensures that affected residents are fairly compensated when onshore wind farms are built in and around their communities.
The solar industry currently has no industry standard, with developers free to offer as little compensation as they like to affected residents and communities.
With UK solar projected to produce 70 Gigawatts of energy by 2035 an increasing amount of land is being developed with solar plants. A solar industry compensation standard would ensure that residents facing huge solar developments in their communities can at least expect a fair level of compensation.
The Government has engaged with concerned MPs on this issue and has also written to Solar Energy UK asking them to get their house in order and swiftly introduce an industry standard compensation offering.
While Dr Hudson believes solar has an important part to play in the UK's future energy mix, he believes now is the time to make sure legislation is adequate to support the full range of stakeholders in the rollout.
In July he stood up in the House of Commons to reinforce that extensive solar developments cannot compromise productive agricultural land and the green belt. Government subsidies should not support landowners to develop upon areas producing food or protecting nature - particularly amid food security challenges.
You can read more about this issue and watch Dr Hudson's speech here.
Dr Neil Hudson MP said:
“As more and more solar plants are proposed across the UK it is vital that communities can expect fair compensation from solar developers, some of whom are projected to make millions of pounds in annual revenues.
“As the industry body for solar, Solar Energy UK should have been proactive in introducing a standardised community compensation offering for the solar industry. Whilst it is disappointing that Parliament and the Government have had to shake the industry into action, I hope we now see a fair community compensation standard sooner rather than later
“It is deeply unfair that some developers currently offer small, one-off payments to communities facing the imposition of multi-thousand-acre developments that will fundamentally alter the landscape around them. We need the solar industry to introduce standardised monetary amounts per megawatt paid out on an annual basis, as is already the case for onshore wind farms.
"We must continue to prioritise energy sovereignty so we are not reliant on hostile nations like Russia to power the nation, but this cannot come at the expense of local communities, farmers or our precious landscapes."
