Proposed fire safety changes could reduce the use of solar panels on small homes

The draft Approved Document B requires a 750mm clearance between solar panels and roof edges, risk reducing capacity and making systems on smaller and terraced homes impractical.  In its response to the consultation, The Housing Forum argued that this was at odds with the Future Homes Standard, which expects rooftop solar to cover around 40% of roof area new dwellings.  This would force RPs to deploy costlier alternatives, while slowing progress on reducing tenants’ bills, achieving EPC C and delivering grid decarbonisation.