Household and Community Solar Assessment Calculator

Solar PV is one of the most commercially viable net zero technologies for building energy decarbonisation. Yet despite huge potential only 3.3% of the UK's 29m homes have installed systems. Uptake is hampered by uncertainty over site and rooftop viability and a lack of local, trusted information and support.

To accelerate the growth of solar power to the levels recommended by the Climate Change Committee (40GW by 2030) solar PV adopters need support and access to trusted information to assess rooftop viability. Householders want quick, accurate, independent predictions about the potential for PV on their homes. Community groups want to identify buildings within their neighbourhoods that offer the best potential for PV to plan community energy and group solar buying projects. Parish and town councils alongside larger district, unitary and county authorities want to understand the viability of PV for their own buildings and the contribution rooftop solar could make to their climate emergency responses.

With funding from the SBRI's Open Digital Solutions for Net Zero Energy, the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) is developing the 'Household and Community Solar Assessment Calculator' as an intuitive web application, based on an innovative methodology which combines national LiDAR data with its own in-house building energy models and wider datasets. The Calculator will provide householders and building owners with free, independent information about PV viability at building level alongside advice on next steps and installation. It will also enable assessment of solar PV potential at local geographies (i.e. ward/parish) with options for users to subscribe to download and analyse wider datasets.

CSE is designing and developing the tool in collaboration with Sharenergy (which runs the flagship Big Solar Coop and has supported the establishment of over 60 community solar coops which own and operate solar PV arrays across the UK) and Bath & West Community Energy (installing community-owned solar on schools, public buildings and other non-domestic buildings and with a network of investors interested household PV installations).

CSE will also consult widely through community energy and local council networks working on net zero delivery, to ensure that the application is accessible to newcomers to solar PV as well as those who are more informed and in need of further information. The Household and Community Solar Assessment Calculator make the benefits of installing solar PV clearer for individual householders and building owners, accelerate the decision-making process and enable trusted community PV schemes to proliferate.