Solar installations surge in first half of 2023

Domestic solar installations increased 82% year on year in the first half of 2023, according to new official figures.

The latest data release from the MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme), shows that by the end of June, there had been 102,797 certified installations of solar PV devices in the first half of this year.

This is 82% more than the number of installations in the equivalent period in 2022 and means that so far 2023 is the first year to see more than 20,000 installations per month.

It is also the highest number recorded since the first half of 2012, when 108,447 households installed solar PV devices in a bid to beat that year’s Feed-In Tariffs cuts.

The latest figures from the official standards body for low carbon installations also show a record surge in heat pumps being fitted during the first half of the year.

There were 17,920 heat pump installations in the first six months of 2023, a level only rivalled during the rush before the end of the Renewable Heat Incentive subsidy scheme in March 2022, according to the MCS.

In addition, each month of 2023 has been a record month for battery technologies, with installation figures surpassing the month before, totalling over 1,000 going into homes and businesses across the UK in 2023 so far.

The growth seen in these three sectors means that more than 120,000 certified renewable technologies were installed in the six months ending June, the highest number ever recorded by this point of the year.

The UK is on track to instal more than a quarter of a million renewable energy devices in households by the end of this year, said a spokesperson for Solar Energy UK.

“In the spring, it was looking like we would have something like 215,000 MCS certified solar installations this year. But that was clearly an underestimate – I would bet on around 250,000 now,” the spokesperson said. “Installing solar on your roof is one of the best home improvements you can make, and more and more people realise the financial and environmental benefits.”

Jess Ralston, head of energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said last year’s gas price crisis has “clearly left its mark on the British public”.

She added: “As these technologies get more commonplace and likely cheaper, this trend is only going to grow, despite some unclear messaging and a lack of long-term policy certainty around the Boiler Upgrade Scheme for heat pumps, for example. Delivering a stable plan for 2030 and beyond plus incentives for household technologies can help get the UK to be less reliant on gas, meaning that we have to import less from abroad as the North Sea continues to decline, and shielding ourselves from any future gas crises.”

Bean Beanland, director of external affairs at the Heat Pump Federation, said: “Whilst there is much to celebrate, 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.

“It is essential that the lowest carbon heat becomes the lowest cost heat so that homeowners and landlords can justify the transition away from polluting fossil fuels. This transition will accelerate as consumers appreciate the advances in protection that the revisions to the MCS scheme are designed to deliver. If this is coupled to a genuine affordability and future funding package, then households will be able to contribute to climate change mitigation with confidence and at a cost that is fair to all.”