Solar still the most popular form of renewable energy among UK public

DECC’s tracker survey published this week shows that renewable energy continues to receive high levels of support among the British public, with 80% of those surveyed supportive of solar energy.

Renewable energy sources continue to receive high levels of support: over three quarters of UK adults (78%) support the use of renewables to generate  electricity, fuel and heat in the UK, a  similar proportion to June 2014 (79%) and March 2014 (80%).

Susannah Wood, Chief Marketing Officer commented, “It is no surprise to us at Solarcentury that solar is consistently popular among the UK public. Quite simply, people like solar, in all its forms, whether on roofs or on the ground. When we hold open days in local communities where we build solar farms, we often receive strong local support. People want a decentralised energy system that enables their communities to power their homes on energy that won’t cause irreversible, lasting environmental damage. And they want to be in control of the energy they generate – that’s why local community energy projects are proving so popular. The solar farm we built for West Solent Solar Cooperative has around 500 investors, and the share offer was so popular, it had to be closed early.”

DECC Public Attitudes Tracker

DECC set up a tracking survey in early 2012 to understand and monitor public attitudes to the Department’s main business priorities. The survey runs four times a year and consists of one longer, annual survey and three shorter, quarterly surveys which focus on a subset of questions where DECC thinks attitudes might shift quickly or be affected by seasonal changes.

Levels of support for individual renewable energy sources are similar to that reported in the previous wave (Aug 2014); off-shore wind (74%), biomass (61%), onshore wind (67%), wave and tidal (73%) and solar (80%).