I was just reading an [article](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/25/race-to-get-uk-electricity-grid-ready-for-net-zero) talking about the fact the UK needs over 600,000km of new mains cabling by 2040 so the grid is ready for net zero. The article noted concerns about material shortage, construction times and cost. This got me wondering, how much of an impact would installing solar panels on every roof have? I expect there would be material and component shortages, albeit for different items, but would it be cheaper?
I imagine that if solar panels were installed on every East, South and West facing roof, we wouldn’t need as many new power cables to be installed and substation upgrades could be avoided as a significant amount of power would be generated where it’s used. I expect that some grid upgrades would still be necessary, especially with the increase in electric cars and to help maintain the grid frequency, but could this be a viable alternative?
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https://preview.redd.it/e8kbyc0bcj2c1.png?width=556&format=png&auto=webp&s=4fdd437f0904147c85166e0c3cae948e400695f9
Source: suspicious_muffin_78