‘Solar summit’ next month to try and get more solar panels in Eastbourne

Eastbourne Eco Action Network (EEAN) is joining with Eastbourne Borough Council to hold the Sustainable Business and Solar Summit on November 18 in the Welcome Building. A spokesperson from EEAN said: “Eastbourne is often described as the sunniest place in the UK. In 2022, amid mounting concern about the environment and spiralling energy prices, it is surprising how few households, businesses and institutions in Britain’s sunniest town have added solar panels to their roofs and walls – or considered solutions that combine solar power with energy-efficiency schemes.”

In 2021 only around a million British households had reportedly invested in solar panels and in 2020 electricity generated from solar panels accounted to just four per cent of the UK total. In 2020 there were an estimated 27.8 million households in the UK.

The spokesperson said: “It is striking how few solar PV panels are in use across the expansive industrial and retail parks whose large, flat-roofed buildings would seem to be eminently suitable. If the majority of these roofs were clad in PV panels, we expect they would make a significant contribution to achieving the town’s zero carbon objective by 2030.”

The summit aims to bring together commercial landlords, retail and industrial park tenants, solar-PV manufacturers, battery-storage experts, installers, energy co-ops and local authorities. It is hoped the summit will encourage guests to consider solar-PV and other renewable schemes to reduce energy bills and contribute towards the town’s 2030 zero-carbon target.

More information and tickets here

The subject recently came up in Parliament too

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