The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, along with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, have confirmed solar panels will feature in the upcoming Future Homes Standard.

This will involve amendment to building regulations to explicitly promote the use of solar, subject to practical limits.

The latter means new homes surrounded by trees or with lots of shade overhead will be exempt.

The government has claimed this will lead to energy bill savings for households, with the typical UK home reducing annual energy expenditure by £530 as a result.

“As part of the government’s Plan for Change to build 1.5 million homes, we are maximising the use of renewable energy to cut people’s bills and power their homes,” said Matthew Pennycook, housing and planning minister.

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“The Future Homes Standard will ensure new homes are modern and efficient with low-carbon heating, while our common-sense planning changes will now make it easier and cheaper for people to use heat pumps and switch to [electric vehicles] so they can play their part in bolstering our nation’s energy security.”

In response, the National Federation of Builders (NFB) has called for further support for builders to allow the costs of solar panel installation to be absorbed.

According to the NFB, grid costs and delays are the main barrier to solar panels being included in new homes and that these issues need to be addressed.

Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insight at the NFB and the House Builders Association (HBA), said efforts achieved around electric vehicle charging infrastructure need to be matched with solar.

This would mean implementing a cost cap on solar installations which fully funds the panels and includes a nominal charge for grid connection and reinforcement, according to Rico, with the energy sector paying the difference.

“In 2023, we warned that there would be a substantial impact on supply and affordability of homes,” said Rico.

“In 2025, with higher build costs, longer planning delays and housebuilders going out of business, we double down on our concerns.

“Labour is trying to fix the mess the Conservatives left them, but without fair caveats to this policy, it will only weaken the broader construction industry and make the 1.5 million home target even harder to hit.”