Agenda item

The Chair asked the Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability to give a presentation on the Renewable Energy Projects (for copy see file of minutes).

The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability noted the presentation would look to outline information as regards renewable energy and capacity in County Durham, along with a number of projects the Council had developed over the last 12 months.  He referred Members to graphs showing renewable energy capacity for the County, with the data coming from the Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and being two years in arrears, with 2020 data due to be shared shortly.  He explained that the picture was fairly static following an initial rise in wind energy, with changes in legislation halting such schemes. 

He noted a decrease in renewable energy capacity in 2018/19 of 4MW, a decrease in terms of the onshore wind capacity, a concern.  He noted the increase in solar / photovoltaic (PV) since 2014.  He referred to a graph highlighting renewable energy generation in the county, the amounts generated, and explained as regards the larger amount of wind energy generation in 2015, due to windier weather, with a small decrease in generation in 2018/19, and noted the contribution from plant biomass.

The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability noted one new project was that at the new Seaham Garden Village, with proposals to heat around 1,500 homes through heat from mine water.  It was explained that the Coal Authority were required to pump and clean mine water, in perpetuity, to ensure it did not pollute the local aquifer used for drinking water.  He added the Coal Authority had noted the temperature of the mine water, around 20^oC and were using it to heat their treatment plant at Dawdon.  He noted as the Seaham Garden Village proposals came forward a district heating scheme was proposed, with Council, Durham University, Coal Authority and Tolent, the developer, all working together in terms of a partnership approach.  He explained that funding was obtained from BEIS to undertake a feasibility study and the study noted the project was a viable proposal.  Members learned that the housing developers going into the site were signed up to the project and the project was at the stage of going out to tender in respect of the delivery of a concession model, for a design, build and operate model for a district heating network.  The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability noted residents would have price protection, being cheaper than the equivalent costs associated with gas heating.  He noted colleagues from Regeneration could provide additional information and added there had been Ministerial visits to the pumping and treatment site, as well as from international delegates, as the technology had implications for the legacy mining areas worldwide. 

The Committee were informed of the Domestic Housing Retrofits, with many successful funding bids over the last 12 months.  The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability referred to LAD (Local Authority Delivery) bids funding work at Chilton and Dene Bank and noted the partners involved.  He added that other projects included: Electric Vans, ‘Try before you Buy’; community EV Charging Network through SOSCI, WEVA (Weardale Electric Vehicle Accelerator), DOCS (Durham Own Charge Point Sites) and REV UP (Regional electric vehicle unified plan); Borrow a Bike Scheme; Project Gigabit Broadband; Marine Carbon; and the South Stanley SuDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems) Accelerator.

The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability noted that Heat Decarbonisation projects included those at Woodland Primary School with air-source heat pumps; new solar / PV sites; solar car ports, with some EU funding for canopies for car parks; micro wind exploration; Durham City District Heat Network Business Case; and Lumley School, integrating solar / PV into the new roof.  He explained as regards the launch of the new County Durham Climate Hub website at the end of October and noted the next steps in relation to CERP2.

The Chair thanked the Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability and asked Members for their questions and comments.

Councillor T Duffy referred to the graph showing renewable energy generation and noted that the roughly static position in terms of the amounts generated, with wind being the largest component and also the component with the most fluctuation.  He noted steady progress in terms of solar.  He asked whether the reduction in landfill gas generation was due to less waste going to landfill, what work was being undertaken in terms of growing solar as a renewable at the larger scale, working with industry and Durham University, and whether any schemes involving wave power were being looked at, given the county had a large coastline.  The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability noted the decrease in landfill gas generation, with more now being sent for incineration at Teesside.  In respect of solar, he noted the opportunities in terms of expansion, highlighting the power generation at the Council’s data centre at Tanfield.  He added a factor in terms of solar included the cost of an electricity upgrades that may be required, and the lead-in times associated with such works.  He noted work looking at old landfill sites as possible solar / PV sites and some other small wind sites.  The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability noted that wave generation had not been looked at, though he noted some projects in Scotland, adding such schemes depended upon on the types of waves in an area.

Councillor E Adam noted page 90 of the agenda pack referred to wind turbines and stated, ‘a number of sites may prove to be viable’.  He asked whether that was a focus on Council properties and whether the Council should promote greater uptake from the private sector.  He asked if the Council was looking at options in terms of energy storage.  The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability noted one site had been assessed as viable and was at the planning stage, adding there were other sites with more work to be done.  He added that Council land was being looked at, with potential to link to buildings to help displace electricity from the grid.  He noted the County Durham Plan (CDP) contained a wind energy policy and a wind turbine evidence paper which set out large areas that could be suitable for wind energy at a larger scale.  He noted as the scale increased there was less land available, noting that was an area private developers could come forward, although he was not aware of many schemes in the last few years.  In terms of solar / PV applications, he noted there had been a lot of applications, with some schemes as large as 50MW.  He added that storage was important and if some schemes were to expand, and the cost of battery technology was to fall, then it may be possible to look at each solar / PV scheme.

Councillor E Adam added that CERP2 should include small and micro scale wind and asked as regards the Seaham Garden Village and the purchase of land referred to at paragraph 18, page 91 of the report. 

He noted that the type of energy generation referred to was in the public interest and asked why the Council were purchasing land to put these types of generation in place, and asked whether, as there was public interest if compulsory purchase or land being given to the Council for such energy generation could be options, given the mining legacy across the county.  The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability noted there had been a lot of discussions as regards who would own and operate the scheme, with the Council becoming involved in an enabling role. 

Councillor B Avery noted the scheme mentioned at Chilton and Dene Bank was very good and when finished the majority would be to a good standard.  He noted the slow progress in relation to Newton Street, with some scaffolding having been in place for over six months, he added he had raised the issue with the Housing Regeneration Project Manager.  The Chair noted the issue would be mentioned to the service with a response provided.

Councillor M Stead noted he was new to the Local Authority and new to the Committee, in attendance as a substitute.  He noted the fantastic work undertaken so far, adding he was looking forward to the new website and noted he would wish to make a few comments in advance of CERP2.  He asked if, when putting the proposals to Cabinet, whether a need to increase the staff within the department had been identified, noting the comments from Councillor E Adam in terms of the additional pressures on staff.  He asked as regards fact-finding trips to look at activities and technologies and noted the upcoming popular Lumiere event and suggested a similarly scaled event relating to climate change may be beneficial in attracting relevant companies to participate to show off their technologies and innovations.  He noted the comments from Members in relation to public transport and noted there were some positives, in terms of the new bus station development in the city and new technologies.  He noted the targets through to 2030, 2035 and explained he liked to look back at what we had been doing 10 years ago to be able to take stock of the progress made, citing the rapid progress in battery technology, adding that he had real faith in the technology that was emerging.  He noted progress in the Far East with the four main motorbike manufacturers working together to standardise batteries.  Councillor M Stead explained an issue in being able to convince people to move away from the current technology was that current petrol and diesel motorcars had a range of around 300 miles from a tank of petrol and there was an existing comprehensive network of fuel stations across the country.  He explained that the four motorbike companies had a system whereby a standardised battery could be easily removed from their vehicle, placed on charge at a charging station and swapped for an already charged battery to be the easily fitted to their vehicle so it would be ready to go.  He noted there was a lot of exciting progress being made worldwide and hoped that further information could be brought forward in respect of the work of the Council, however, he cautioned as regards how quickly technology could become supplanted, noting charging points as a possible example.

The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability noted Officers would be happy to speak to Durham University and industry experts and leaders as regards developing such ideas.  He noted a company, Power Roll, based at Jade Business Park, Murton, that specialised in producing flexible solar/ PV panels on a roll and noted as such technologies improved, they would become more widespread and cost-effective.

Councillor J Elmer thanked the Officers for all of the fantastic work they were doing on a number of projects.  He noted he felt that those Officers need more influence over the strategic direction of the Council, adding the Team had often needed to refer an issue to another Team, such as Spatial Policy.  He noted such areas included strategic direction on transport, planning decision making, household insulation, district heating systems.  He added that it was possible to influence such matters through various means, such as SPDs as mentioned by Councillor L Brown.  He noted the cost of solar car port project was quite expensive, with a figure of £5 million, and explained he thought that the same outcome could be achieved by switching the Council’s energy supplier to one that could guarantee 100 percent generation from renewable sources, and with the £5 million being used for other activities, such as retrofitting existing housing with insulation and new heating systems.  The Principal Officer - Climate Change and Sustainability noted the solar car port scheme was looking at the potential for such schemes, with areas such as Nottingham developing such schemes, highlighting the high returns in terms of electricity generated.  The Carbon and Energy Analyst noted that spending money on solar car ports was beneficial as they would provide additional electricity back to the grid, in a sense being an invest to save, to help develop more projects whereas insulating a property would not help to generate additional income to feed back into projects.  The Sustainability and Climate Change Team Leader explained the £5 million referred to was a bid to the EU Cities funding scheme and originally it had been turned down with the Council informed that the proposals were not of a grand enough scale.  She explained that subsequently the Council submitted a second bid in partnership with Durham University, County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust and the Environment Agency, which was successful.  She noted that the bid was the only UK bid to receive any funding from the last tranche of EU Cities Fund, around £60,000 to develop a commercial business case for solar car ports.  The Sustainability and Climate Change Team Leader noted that the Council was not currently investing any money, though it may choose to do so if the business case was attractive.  She added that the Council had a large area in terms of its car parks, and it could be a good opportunity to generate energy, alongside other green works to the car parks, where viable with the grid.

Resolved:

That the renewable energy data and progress made on new projects in 2021 be noted.