Labour vows to create 2,000 community solar hubs

Labour has pledged to install solar panels on 2,000 public facilities.

Amidst the furore triggered by last night’s announcement that it will nationalise broadband provision, Labour has unveiled plans to create 2,000 “community solar hubs”.

Solar panels would be installed at the hubs, which would be located in public spaces like libraries, community centres and one-stop shops.

Participating facilities would receive electricity from the solar panels, saving an estimated £3,000 on annual fuel bills.

Any unused electricity would be exported to the grid, providing an estimated income of £1,080 a year per hub.

Labour claims that the net financial benefit to public facilities means that the programme will pay for itself in seven years. And after 15 years, it says the facilities will have saved £90 million on energy bills.

Labour’s announcement builds on its conference pledge to install solar panels on hospitals, which it said would save the NHS energy costs.

Rebecca Long Bailey, shadow secretary of state for business and energy, said that the hubs would also provide advice on energy efficiency for households, thus playing a key role in the party’s plan to upgrade 27 million homes.

She said: “Dedicated outreach teams in every community will provide information on how people can benefit from home upgrades to make them warmer and cheaper to run, and how they can access the hundreds of thousands of new green jobs and training opportunities we are creating.

“Labour wants the Green Industrial Revolution to benefit every community.”