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New homes must have solar panels By Robin Morton Solar roof panels are to become compulsory on all new houses in Northern Ireland from April 2008, the Secretary of State announced today. Peter Hain - who disclosed that he had cut his own energy bill in half by installing panels on his home in Wales - said he was committed to "green energy". Mr Hain announced the proposed change to building regulations in Northern Ireland as he launched an £8m renewable energy household programme. The grant aid, part of the Government's £59m renewable energy fund, will help 4,000 householders to install renewable energy systems in their homes. The change to building regulations will make the use of solar panels obligatory in all new homes, office blocks and public sector buildings. Solar panels heat water while solar photo-voltaic (PV) panels, such as those used by Mr Hain, generate electricity. Another form of so-called "micro-generation" is the use of a domestic-sized wind turbine designed for houses. Mr Hain said 100% grant assistance was being made available to install solar hot water systems in private-sector fuel-poor households. In the public sector, the Housing Executive is to install solar water-heating panels in 600 of its 90,000 properties. Mr Hain said: "Northern Ireland is leading the rest of the UK in renewable energy and the household programme is another important milestone. "I am fully committed to the use of renewable energy and know how effective it can be. In my home in Wales, I have installed PV panels on my roof and this has resulted in my energy bill being halved." The Secretary of State announced the new initiative during a visit to Comber during which he inspected a house which has benefited from renewable energy measures. He said the aim was to reduce electricity, oil and gas usage by persuading householders to switch to renewable energy. The Government's target is to generate 12% of electricity in Northern Ireland from indigenous renewable sources by 2012. But there is some way to go. In 2005/06 5.8% of consumption was from renewables with just 3% of that coming from indigenous sources. Indigenous wind power capacity in Northern Ireland now stands at 106 megawatts (MW) against a maximum demand for electricity of 1,700MW per day. Meanwhile, a Government- backed experimental £8.5m tidal energy scheme, which was approved last December, is expected to be up and running in Strangford Lough this autumn. © 2006 Independent News and Media (NI) http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=699890
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