Roofs of car parks, warehouses, supermarkets, leisure centres and nightclubs could all be used to provide the nation with cheaper, greener power.
The government has described the “untapped potential” that exists in commercial buildings around the country.
A taskforce has been set up and is looking at how solar capacity can be increased by 500% by 2035 to 70GW.
But even if this is achieved, only an incredibly small part of the UK’s land mass would be used for solar panels, illustrating its incredible potential long term.
Simon Hopkins of HIT Energy Services said: “Often, people have very set ideas on what constitutes a solar farm.
“They imagine them to be on farmers’ fields, barn roofs or in rolling hills in the countryside.
“But they can be placed just about anywhere that catches the sun.”
While Lincolnshire-based HIT Energy Services begun by helping farmers and agricultural firms make the most out of their Solar PV systems, the company is increasingly seeing a wide variety of organisations look to what is a renewable, cheap, reliable form of energy.
These include councils, hospitals, universities and government departments.
Already more than a million UK homes have solar panels fitted to their roofs – this figure alone shows the huge growth in the technology.
The government task force – which will set out its plans next year – will look at the untapped potential of commercial buildings, warehouses and schools, as well as the possibility of floating solar.
HIT Energy Services has been at the forefront of the growth of solar over the past decade or more.
Members of our team have been involved in some of the biggest installation programmes across the UK.
Our innovative technology has also continues to lead the way – such as our totally in-house, multi award-winning HIT Energy Guard.
The monitoring system keeps an eye on Solar PV 24/7, making sure it is generating to its full potential at all times.
If production ever drops, even for a short time, we are notified by the technology and send an engineer to fix any issues before they start costing the owner money.
We are involved in all aspects of solar – from helping to organise installation, maintenance, repowering and even helping owners to sell energy they don’t need.
Simon added: “The potential for solar is huge – already over a million homes have panels fitted to their roofs.
“That is the exciting thing about the industry that they can be fitted just about anywhere and help generate cheap, green energy.
“We want to help as many people as possible in every walk of life benefit from solar.”
The government will next year publish its solar roadmap aimed at increasing capacity by fivefold by 2035.
HIT Energy Services is keen to hear from anyone in any walk of life, who feels they could benefit from the green power.
