To reduce our impact on the environment and our carbon emissions, a move away from fossil fuels is needed. This approach is crucial to meet Northern Ireland’s Net Zero target by 2050.
To reduce our impact on the environment and our carbon emissions, a move away from fossil fuels is needed. This approach is crucial to meet Northern Ireland’s Net Zero target by 2050.
Choice have previously installed around 360 solar thermal systems, to generate hot water, and around 55 heat pumps, as an alternative to fossil fuel heating options. Our most common renewable technology is solar PV, which provides free electricity.
Solar PV panels generate clean electricity by converting sunlight into energy. Despite persistent myths about Northern Ireland’s cloudy and cool climate, modern solar technology remains effective by using diffuse sunlight that penetrates cloud cover. Solar PV is particularly beneficial as it delivers both environmental and financial savings.
At the end of 2024/25 we had around 475 solar PV systems, and we had generated over 500,000kWh of renewable electricity, with some of this used directly by tenants, some used in common parts of housing schemes, and some exported to the electricity grid. More recently our solar PV portfolio has already grown to over 700 systems and this has become a common technology at many new housing developments.
In 2025 we also installed solar PV systems at three of our sheltered housing schemes, along with battery storage. This innovative approach allows us to use as much of the renewable electricity on site as possible, which improves the cost savings on tenant service charges.
Moving forward we have set a target to generate at least 700,000kWh of renewable electricity annually from our solar PV portfolio by 2028. We are also considering further options to decarbonise heating across our housing stock, whilst ensuring that energy costs remain affordable.
Further information on solar PV systems is available on the energy section of our website.
