London’s suburban boroughs help to its renewable energy goals more than central ones, with Havering providing the most solar energy per household, government data shows.
Since 2014, Havering has than quintupled its solar energy capacity from just over three megawatts (MW) to over 16 as of 2024, making it the fastest growing borough for solar capacity.
This is according to data published in 2025 by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
A MW is a measure of how much energy a system, like a set of solar panels, is capable of producing and a mega-watt hour (MWh) is a measure of how much energy is delivered by the system in a single hour.
A MWh is enough energy to brew nearly 36,500 cups of tea and, based on an average UK household, would power roughly 2,000 homes for one hour.
Why is it that some areas of the capital are seeing higher uptake than others? A combination of infrastructure, economic and social elements can all contribute.
Energy company, Factor, CTO Simon Pohlen said: “There are initially low barriers for electricity grid operators to accept new solar capacity.
“But at some point, the installed base becomes large enough that it can then create problems.”
Factor is an energy technology company that works internationally with electricity retailers.
Solar panels are an example of uncontrolled generation – so when it’s sunny, there is energy but when it’s not, there isn’t and we can’t directly control how much is produced and when.
This property of uncontrolled generation can eventually cause problems as electricity grids like to stay in relatively stable states and a sudden increase in energy production or demand can cause real problems.
“Over in Australia we see the focus on controllable generation via batteries, combined with punitive pricing for unconstrained solar generation,” added Pohlen.
Home batteries help to even out the energy added to the grid by storing the excess until it is needed but may not be suitable for smaller flats and homes that are common in the capital.
More central boroughs lag significantly behind outer ones for installed solar capacity and when adjusted for MW per 10,000 households, Havering remains top providing enough capacity to power nearly a fifth of its households at 1.6MW with Kensington and Chelsea remain bottom with only 0.28MW per 10k households.
In fact, the general trend of more suburban boroughs providing more capacity holds after the same adjustment.
There can be varying obstacles depending on borough to installing a solar system in addition to space for components, such as planning permission or access to funds such as the Warm Homes Grant.
Those boroughs with a higher number of households aren’t necessarily able to provide more capacity, due to factors such as the number of high rises that make up the residential space which are significantly less flexible when it comes to domestic installation by individual residents.
Households in more affluent boroughs may also simply be less attracted to the grants and incentives available as they could not be as financially appealing.
The Mayor of London set a target of delivering 15% of the capital’s energy needs from renewable sources by 2030 and Havering is helping the city get well on its way to achieving it.
The target, part of the London Energy Plan, would see changes to electricity and heating generation, electrifying public transport and energy demand management in the city.
Additional changes to energy tariffs could help drive adoptions, claims Pohlen.
He added: “I think that energy suppliers should evolve their products and focus more on smart control of solar and batteries and more fairly reward customers for using those assets.
“This could look like rewarding the customer when the battery has been used for grid stabilisation.”
There is one aspect of UK life that our energy grids need to contend with: the great British weather.
Australia benefits from it’s peak seasonal energy demand coming from air-conditioning needs, which matches very well with the sunny summers.
The UK on the other hand sees its peak demand coming from heating in the famously grey and cloudy winter months.
As solar technology improves and becomes more affordable it has, nevertheless, become a more common sight on roofs around the country and improvements to efficiency even in overcast conditions continue to make them more effective year-round.
UK Power Networks has revealed that London consumed 23,611 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy in 2024/25, making the 15% target of the Energy Plan just over 3.5million MWh.
While there is still a long way to go to meet that target, the rate of London installations remains promising.
Feature image by Dmitrii E. on Unsplash
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