Households win right to fight for sunlight on their solar panels

Homeowners with rooftop solar systems will be protected from neighbouring property developments overshadowing their roofs under changes to planning rules the Andrews government has introduced.

The Andrews government will introduce new planning
 rules to protect household solar panels from being
overshadowed by neighbouring developments.

The new residential planning rules, to be brought in later this month, will mean that overshadowing of existing solar panels and hot water systems will have to be considered in residential planning decisions.

Read the story from The Age by Adam Carey and Benjamin Preiss - “Households win right to fight for sunlight on their solar panels.”

Sturgeon proposes cheap, state-owned energy for Scotland

Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to set up a state-owned energy company in Scotland to offer cheaper power to homeowners, as she seeks to restore her battered party’s confidence.

 Nicola Sturgeon speaks on the final day of the SNP conference in Glasgow. 

Seizing on a policy pushed by Scottish Labour, the first minister said power from the publicly owned energy company would be sold as cheaply as possible.

“Energy would be bought wholesale or generated here in Scotland – renewable, of course – and sold to customers as close to cost price as possible,” she told the Scottish National party conference in Glasgow on Tuesday. “No shareholders to worry about. No corporate bonuses to consider.” 

It was one of a series of populist policies aimed at bolstering her party’s appeal to leftwing and rural voters.

Read Severin Carrell’s story on The Guardian -  “Sturgeon proposes cheap, state-owned energy for Scotland.”