Amber Rudd, who was promoted to the top job in the Department of Energy and Climate change following the post-election victory reshuffle by prime minster David Cameron, told the Hastings & St Leonards Observer that she will back the continued deployment of roof mounted solar.
She said: “I want to unleash a new solar revolution – we have a million people living under roofs with solar panels and that number needs to increase.”
The “solar revolution” would be aimed at utilising mid-scale and roof mounted solar, after cuts to subsidies for large scale solar farms, larger than 5MW, were confirmed by the government in April last year.
Rudd said in November that solar farms are “not particularly welcome as we go forward”, adding they “should be on roofs, buildings and home roofs, not in beautiful green countryside”.
The new energy secretary also said she wants to “shout loud about the benefits of switching” to consumers and “urge people across the country to take advantage of one of the most competitive energy market we have ever had”.
As part of her plan to cut bills for consumers, Rudd stated work needs to be done to improve the energy efficiency of homes across the country.
She added: “My ambition in my new role is quite simple: to keep the lights on and carbon emissions down, whilst saving consumers money on their energy bills.”