Plug-in solar is most commonly seen on balconies across Europe and are helping apartment dwellers save on their electricity bills. In Germany, for example, already half a million of these plug-in solar systems have been plugged in over the last year alone.<\/p>\n
The UK expects that these plug-in solar kits will be able to be installed in gardens or on walls and balconies, providing an alternative for renters and those living in flats, units, and apartments, who may otherwise not have the option to install rooftop solar panels.<\/p>\n
The plug-in solar kits are plugged into a mains socket like any other device and reduces the amount of electricity that is otherwise taken from the grid, cutting energy bills and enabling everyone to do their own little bit for the environment.<\/p>\n
The government will work with the relevant bodies, consumer groups, and industry to introduce new standards and amend regulations so as to introduce plug-in solar kits as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
The other main step the UK government is taking is bringing forward its next annual renewables auction to July in an effort to provide even greater certainty to clean energy investors and add more renewables to the grid quicker.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlobal events\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0not a moment to waste in our drive for clean power because there can be no energy security while we are so dependent on fossil fuels,\u201d said Ed Miliband<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSo today I\u2019m announcing a series of initiatives to speed up our clean power mission: bringing forward the next\u00a0renewables auction just months after our most successful ever, announcing that plug in solar will be available for the first time in Britain and speeding up our warm homes plan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEverything we are doing is about one purpose: fighting the corner of the British people by taking back control of our energy.\u201d<\/p>\n The decision to bring forward the next renewables auction follows only months after the country\u2019s most successful ever auction was completed, promising the addition of a record 13.3 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, including 4.9 GW from solar farms \u2013 clean power enough to power the equivalent of 23 million homes.<\/p>\n Finally, the UK government will also apply the findings from its Fingleton Review into speeding up the building of nuclear power stations to the renewable energy industry as well.<\/p>\n The steps were immediately praised by the country\u2019s renewable energy industry.<\/p>\n \u201cThe latest events in the Middle East have underlined the importance of weening the British economy from dependence on oil and gas as soon as possible and moving to become a fully electrified economy,\u201d said Chris Hewett<\/a>, chief executive of the trade association Solar Energy UK.<\/p>\n \u201cI am delighted to see that solar energy will be put at the heart of the Government\u2019s response, being the fastest and cheapest solution to rising energy bills, at the smallest and larges scales.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBringing forward the next Contracts for Difference auction is an important step towards strengthening Britain\u2019s energy security,\u201d said Tara Singh<\/a>, chief executive of RenewableUK.<\/p>\n \u201cRecent global events have shown, yet again, how exposed we remain to shocks in international fossil-fuel markets, and the best way to reduce that vulnerability is to generate more of our own electricity here in the UK, at the stable prices wind and solar offer.\u201d<\/p>\n If you would like to join more than 28,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, please\u00a0click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy<\/a> and The Driven<\/a> since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK government announced over the weekend several measures designed to bolster national energy security, including approving the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-547686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773810015_762_2b561a9f2c6c77811dd67a817ce7db95e1eb9d6c4a0e3fcea47216d6ad3cddd5.png\")
<\/p>\n