New data has revealed broken records for solar panel and heat pump installations in first six months of 2023, with UK on track for nearly a quarter of a million homes installing certified renewables this year.
Data from MCS shows a 62% jump in renewable home installation compared to last year. In the first six months of 2023, more than 120,000 certified solar panels, heat pumps and other renewable technologies were installed in UK homes, the highest number ever by this point in the year.
The figures show there were more renewable energy installations in June alone than in any six-month period in previous years. The month saw over 27,000 certified installations recorded on homes and businesses across the UK, bringing the total for the first half of the year to over 122,000.
This year is the first to average more than 20,000 solar panel installations per month, and the first to see more than 3,000 heat pumps installed per month. Analysts say that with this sustained growth, nearly a quarter of a million households could install renewable energy by the end of this year.
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The government has set clear targets to reach 70GW of solar capacity by 2035 and to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028. The growth in renewable technology across the UK in the last few years is promising, yet the UK’s heat pump scheme missed its first year target despite £5,000 grants to reduce the cost of replacing an old gas boiler.
Heat Pump Federation direct of external affairs Bean Beanland said there is a “tremendous job of work to do to ensure that heat pump technology becomes mainstream over the remainder of this decade.
“Enhancing the collaboration with existing and future installers is critical, both to industry success and to the continued development of policy supportive of the electrification of heat and the complete cessation of combustion in due course,” he added.
Beanland also calls for the lowest carbon heat becomes the lowest cost heat so that homeowners and landlords can justify the transition away from polluting fossil fuels.
