Ed Miliband wants to build enough solar panels to cover area the size of West Midlands in next five years
At present, the renewable energy technology covers 0.1 per cent of the country, making the expansion to 0.4 per cent – 374 square miles – in the next five years a dramatic increase.
The scheme forms a central part of the Government's push to achieve 'clean energy' by the end of the decade.
But the plan has been widely criticised by environmental campaigners, with the Tories warning that the plans could leave the countryside 'plastered in expensive and unreliable renewables'.
Conservative energy spokesman Andrew Bowie said: 'Instead of prioritising cheap and secure energy for this country, Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband have pursued mad energy policies guided by their blind adherence to Net Zero by 2050, no matter the cost.'
In his foreword to the report, Mr Miliband said he wanted to spark a 'rooftop revolution'. This could involve car park 'canopies' of panels to produce energy to meet the roadmap's goal of trebling solar capacity by 2030.
But meeting green targets will also require a major increase in the amount of land used for solar farms. The report states: 'We estimate up to 0.4 per cent of total UK land would be required to deliver solar under deployment assumptions.'
The roadmap also sets out ways to reduce the amount of time for solar farms to be built and connected to the grid.
'Inefficiencies in the planning regime have distorted the market and held back growth,' it said. 'The Government is taking action to streamline the process and reduce the time it takes to secure planning permission for major infrastructure projects.'
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, of the Countryside Alliance, said: 'The drive to Net Zero will involve costs as well as benefits, and the countryside must not be asked to bear burdens that are impractical and disproportionate.'
There are also concerns that the global production line for solar panels uses forced labour from China's Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province.
Earlier this year Mr Miliband was forced to ban state-owned GB Energy from investing in projects using solar panels linked to Chinese forced labour.
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