Hospitals: Renewable Energy
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has stipulated that hospitals in the New Hospital Programme include renewable power.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The New Hospital Programme will ensure that new facilities are designed to minimise their carbon footprint, to help achieve the National Health Service’s commitments to implement net zero by 2040 for the emissions it directly controls, and by 2045 for the emissions it influences. To achieve these targets, local renewable energy will be used to offset some of the energy consumption of buildings. Currently, it is assumed that, where possible, this will come predominantly from photovoltaic panels on the roof. Buildings will be more energy efficient than the current building estate, by using electricity and reducing fossil fuel consumption.
The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work across Government to secure investment for on-site renewable energy generation across the acute estate. On 21 March 2025, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced a £100 million partnership with Great British Energy that will increase the NHS’s onsite renewable power capacity by 300%.
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