In 2025, the UK government moved fast on legislation and reform to support the country’s renewable energy efforts.
“With the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan acting as the impetus,” Shraiya Thapa, clean energy senior knowledge lead at law firm Freeths, said, “the government has moved at pace this year.”
Thapa highlighted both the Solar and Clean Flexibility roadmaps as markers of progress, alongside grid connection changes and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
This included changes to the UK planning system to make it harder for local authorities to reject solar developments on spurious grounds. In December, the government implemented a revised NPPF, stating that planning authorities should give “significant weight to the benefits associated with renewable and low carbon energy generation and the proposal’s contribution to a net zero future” when determining applications.
A spokesperson for UK-based solar supplier Segen told Solar Power Portal that there has been “meaningful progress” in both the solar and energy storage sectors this year, referencing, like Thapa, the publication of the Solar Roadmap.
“By outlining concrete steps to scale deployment and aiming for 45–47GW of installed solar by 2030, the roadmap gives developers, installers and investors greater confidence to plan and invest,” the spokesperson said. “The government is moving beyond early pledges and laying the foundations for sustained growth.”
Read more: Solar Power Portal
