All new buildings would need to be fitted with solar panels under an EU plan. The 'solar rooftop initiative' would bring in a legal obligation to install solar panels on public and commercial buildings, as well as residential properties, constructed within European Union territory.
Leaders want to fully phase out Europe's dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal imports as soon as possible in the wake of the war in Ukraine, The Independent reports. The mandatory solar panel proposal forms part of a plan called REPowerEU, published on Wednesday (May 18).
Frans Timmermans, who is leading the European Commission’s work on the European Green Deal, said: “It is clear we need to put an end to this dependence as soon as possible and a lot faster than we had foreseen before this war. In March we showed it could be done, the European Council in Versailles decided it should be done, today we show how it will be done.”
REPowerEU has three main elements - energy savings, diversification of energy supplies and accelerated roll-out of renewable energy. The Independent says it was cost an extra 210 billion euros, with investment needed from the public and private sectors, according to the Commission.
The solar panels initiative forms part of the renewable energy roll-out. The Commission proposes increasing its target for renewables to produce 45 per cent of the EU's energy by 2030, up from 40 per cent.
This would require doubling the bloc's capacity for capturing solar power, as well as deploying twice as many heat pumps. Meanwhile the Commission has suggested upping its energy efficiency target through cutting consumption by 13 per cent by 2030.
