Agenda item

As agreed by the Partnership, the agenda was reorganised to take this item at this point in the meeting.

This was the first of the thematic deep dives requested at the last meeting, on the energy innovation theme.

</AI12>

<AI13>

a)            ENERGY SYSTEM OVERVIEW

The Partnership received a presentation that gave an overview of the energy systems, opportunities, constraints and baseline planning.

</AI13>

<AI14>

b)            GMCA LEAD ENERGY PROGRAMMES

The Partnership considered a report and presentation that provided the inter-relationships between current GMCA low carbon projects across the spectrum of information, projects and optimisation.

A detailed discussion took place, which was noted as follows:

·         A Member asked what BPS was; this stood for bump supply point.

·         The presenters were asked if consideration had been given to leasing rather than capex. A question was also raised about the status of the national policy. It was explained that financing was a separate issue, there were a number of businesses and third parties that would provide the capital. There was a role to develop the market. In terms of the national policy, it was noted that this would be dependent on what funding was available following the March 2020 budget.

·         Domestic solar panels took a long time to pay back but did provide a return on investment. The challenge for the group was to revisit numbers to assess whether bulk purchase could drive lower costs.

·         It was agreed that the presentation slide decks would be shared with the Partnership.

·         A question was raised about Local Authority (LA) data on energy demand and generation and how detailed the data was. Data for the ENWL calculations had been shared with and taken from the draft GM spatial plan. The link to the interactive maps would be shared with the Partnership.

·         School routes could provide a third of the generation required. Work was underway with Greater Manchester Community Renewables and others to assess the opportunities. School governors would need to be convinced and the work being undertaken was about providing the opportunity and options for schools.

·         Electric vehicle (EV) fast charging used 24 times the amount of power than a normal regular overnight charge. Fast charging was not the most cost effective way of charging. An education programme was needed about the low cost overnight charging option.

·         A discussion took place about the potential uptake of heat pumps. It was explained that 20% of heat to electricity had been modelled but, as technology improved, this would increase.

·           The Wild Life Trust had a 25 acre site in Wigan that had potential for a solar farm and partner. Electricity North West agreed to be discuss with LWT.

·         A point was raised about the Dissemination of Energy Efficiency Measures in the Public Buildings Sector (DEEP) project and if the wider benefits were being considered. It was suggested that data could be collected. Unfortunately, this was not possible as the project was focussed on carbon only.

·         Work on-going on this area included the Schools Low Carbon Programme,  the identification of quick win projects, a stakeholder analysis to identify gaps and Electricity North West’s work on energy master planning.  For the latter,  it was envisaged that local area energy plans would support this work.

The Chair thanked Officers for their informative presentations.

RESOLVED/-

1)      That the Partnership noted and provided comments (see above) on the content of the report and presentations.

2)      That the presentation slide decks and link to the interactive maps would be shared with the Partnership.

3)      Electricity North West confirmed they would discuss with the Wild Life Trust regarding the solar farm opportunity.