Solar technologies are the easiest renewables to integrate in towns and cities, because they can be installed on roofs and building facades with minimal intrusion, and they have high acceptance by the general public.
Kirklees Council took part in the EU-funded SunCities Project to supply electricity from PV in city buildings. By 2006, they had installed 351 kWp of PV and also solar thermal systems on a range of private and public-sector housing and residential homes in Huddersfield. At the time this was the largest domestic PV programme in the UK.
All buildings were either refurbished or newly built to high environmental standards, so households gained the benefits of energy efficiency as well as the more visible solar technology.
