Portsmouth solar panels: city council sends out thousands of letters in drive to get more residents to install panels

About 30,000 houses identified as being most suitable have been contacted since Portsmouth City Council launched its 'Switched on Solar' campaign earlier this year.

Its leader, councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, said the push was a key part of the authority's work to meet its 2030 net carbon zero target and that there had been a 'good' response from the public.

Switched on Solar assesses each house's potential for solar power to calculate estimates of energy production and both financial and environmental savings.

The scheme was introduced in response to concerns that people were unable to source unbiased information. More than 2,500 addresses in the city had been analysed since its launch in February.

But Cllr Vernon-Jackson said the council was continuing to encourage more people to look into the feasibility of using solar power with letters having been sent to 30,000 houses in the city the council deemed could benefit from the technology.

'This is being driven by me,' he said. 'We have had solar panels on our roof for six years and I now use them to charge my car.

'I don't understand why I'm still - all these years later - the only in our road with them.

'What I want the council to be doing is telling people what steps they can be taking to reduce their carbon footprint.

'So we have been writing to lots of people, offering them an audit so they can fully understand what they can do at their homes. That's not just solar panels, it's also things like insulation and batteries.

'The response has been quite good with many taking this up and that's great to see.'

He added that there was 'huge potential' for solar power in Portsmouth due to its geography and that with only a very small percentage of homes having panels, scaling this up would be a key part of the council's work to meet its 2030 target to be net carbon zero.

Earlier this year it was revealed that Portsmouth had spent more than any other council in the country – almost £5m – on solar panels in the last six years, with 373 council-owned buildings - including schools, houses and the civic offices seeing panels installed. It's estimated this reduces the council’s carbon emissions by more than 1,300 tonnes of CO2 every year.