Agenda item

Tim Jackson (speaking on behalf of WinACC) addressed the committee on this item.

In summary, Tim Jackson made reference to the following points:

·       WinACC welcomed report, but considered the growth target would not meet self-sufficiency for renewable energy in the district unless it was increased further.

·       Welcomed mention of the need for additional land allocation and stated that there was every opportunity to create renewable energy, equal to the total annual demand of the Winchester district.

·       He stated that an increase in demand was far more foreseeable with the increase in heat pumps rolled out in homes and electric cars on the roads.

·       He suggested there needed to be a ninefold increase in solar panels to enable Winchester to become self-sufficient.

·       Utility scale solar panels were the cheapest form of energy which did not require public subsidy but did require a favourable planning framework, including storage and grid capacity.

·       Domestic rooftops should be encouraged.

·       Vital the Carbon Neutrality Action Plan was explicit on a figure for land use to accommodate utility scale solar linked to self-sufficiency as a lack of ambition would be reflected in the Local Plan.

·       In conclusion, he stated that WinACC commended the aims of the plan and looked forward to the finalised version of the Carbon Neutrality Action Plan, reflecting the vision of a district largely self sufficient in meeting its demand for electricity, an increased target for new installed renewable energy capacity and a clear figure of the land area required to achieve sufficiency to inform the Local Plan.

Councillor Wallace addressed the Committee on this item.

In summary, Councillor Wallace made reference to the following points:

·       Report does a good job of capturing the state of renewable energy across the district, but also highlighted a lack of real progress.

·       Queried if there was sufficient resource available to run the renewable energy programme.

·       Questioned the programme which he suggested needed more focus and queried the lack of installation of solar panels on council housing stock and council assets.

·       Queried the progress on power purchase agreements (PPA’s) and expanding this model to other users; domestic schemes – the GIS tool to assist rooftop and ground solar promised in response to the council question in September; challenges for energy audits of businesses; the resources to assist in achieving the objectives of the large-scale renewable energy plan; and the resources to support producing the local area energy plan.

·       In conclusion, he stated that practical steps and action was now required in order to drive renewable energy forward.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency introduced the report and outlined that one of the key pathways to carbon neutrality in the Carbon Neutrality Action Plan (CNAP) was increasing the use of renewable energy in the district with actions including increasing large scale solar PV and domestic solar PV, as well as renewable energy purchase and transport decarbonisation. The report set out the council’s current and planned work on renewable energy generation and the outcome of consultation carried out earlier this year. The report was about carbon as a whole; not just renewable energy, and a balanced approach on how the council used its resources to achieve the best outcomes needed to be taken. It was noted that the council were looking at projects on buildings it currently leased in relation to the installation of solar PV, however there were legal requirements to follow, such as landlord authority etc.

The Corporate Head of Economy and Community stated that the council was working across a number of opportunities in a range of strands to understand how this could happen, to learn, support and work with partners to share best practice and increase the take up of renewable energy. However, it was recognised that reducing demand was paramount in the first instance.

The committee proceeded to ask questions and comment on the following matters which were responded to by the Cabinet Member, the Corporate Head of Economy and Community and the Sustainability Manager:

(a)           The slow progression of the retrofit programme – the need to focus efforts on direct benefit to residents to improve insulation in homes at the same time as getting to net zero.

(b)           Income from electricity generation.

(c)           Solar schemes/investments.

(d)           Biodiversity: emerging brownfield or rooftop policies for the use of solar panels.

(e)           Rate of growth - the amount of solar power generation being hosted within the district.

(f)             Wind generation.

At the conclusion of debate, the Chair thanked those in attendance and thanked officers for the update on renewable energy.

RESOLVED:

                     That the contents of the report be received, and the comments         raised by the committee, as summarised above, be noted.