At the end of last year, the Government published its Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, which is intended to set out a pathway to a clean power system and tackle what it has identified as today’s key challenges: including maintaining secure and affordable energy supply in an increasingly unstable world, protecting the environment and addressing the effects of climate change.
The Action Plan represents the first time that the huge opportunity for warehouse rooftops to deliver major wins in achieving these goals has been formally acknowledged by Government. UKWA sees this as an important breakthrough in a campaign that began back in 2022 with the publication of our milestone report into the benefits and barriers of solar power on warehouse rooftops.
Stating that “There is great potential for rooftop solar installation across the UK’s warehouse and industrial sectors,” the Action Plan directly references UKWA’s research, which indicates that just twenty percent of the UK’s largest warehouses could provide 75 million sq m of roof space, with the potential to support up to 15 GW of rooftop solar capacity.
The research was commissioned initially against a background of rising prices and compromised energy security due to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. It revealed potential annual savings of £3bn for the warehousing sector, carbon reductions of 2 million tonnes per year, and critically, the opportunity for our sector to double the UK’s overall solar capacity.
Since then, we have engaged tirelessly with both the previous and current Governments; hosting parliamentary receptions and a solar summit, convening round table discussions, including with representatives from DESNZ (Department of Energy Security & Net Zero), and responding to various Government consultations on behalf of our members.
Also, I had the personal privilege of representing UKWA and speaking for our sector on the Rooftop Subgroup of the Government’s Solar Taskforce.
The other outcome of our research project was the production of a Solar Power Toolkit, exclusive to UKWA members, to provide a comprehensive guide to companies keen to pursue rooftop solar. Much has changed since 2022, not least the knowledge base of UKWA, therefore for 2025 we are embarking on the development of an extended and updated Solar Power Toolkit, with the support of LCP Delta, our original research partners who specialise in navigating the energy transition.
We will be launching our Toolkit – which will ultimately be made available to members and non-members of the warehousing community – later this year.
In the meantime, the recognition of our work on solar power on warehouse rooftops and the potential our sector offers in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan is massively encouraging, and we look forward to making further progress now that warehousing is firmly on the Government’s agenda.
Clare Bottle
UKWA, CEO
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