To consider investment in a large capacity ground mounted solar photovoltaic renewable energy system on the Council’s vacant land to the south of the HUB fronting Mareham Road, Horncastle.

That £340,854 be allocated from the Council’s ‘Invest to Save’ reserve in order to commission and deliver the PV scheme set out within Option 3 of this report. 

A report was presented to Members that outlined opportunities through the installation of Solar PV at the Council’s headquarters site to deliver medium to long term financial savings to the Council at the same time as delivering outcomes to support the Council’s adopted Climate Change Strategy objectives.

The report sought Executive Board approval to invest in a large capacity ground mounted solar photovoltaic renewable energy system on the Council’s vacant land to the south of the Hub fronting Mareham Road, Horncastle.

During his introduction of the report, the Leader of the Council referred to the recommendation that £340,854 be allocated from the Council’s Invest to Save reserve in order to commission and deliver the PV scheme set out within Option 3 of the report.

The Leader of the Council highlighted that this would be a really good addition to the Hub in terms of its green credentials and that approximately 61% of energy that was required at the Hub would be provided by PV cells.  In using the land and the addition of a carport, this would test the principle for other areas and uses, for example car parks.

RESOLVED

That £340,854 be allocated from the Council’s ‘Invest to Save’ reserve in order to commission and deliver the PV scheme set out within Option 3 of this report. 

Reason

The scheme set out within Option 3 maximises the potential for electricity generation at the HUB site.  Effecting Option 3 would offset and reduce the HUBs reliance on imported grid electricity by approx. 61% annually and significantly reduce the ongoing annual operating costs of the HUB; such in situ generation would contribute to year-on-year carbon reduction target outputs and the strive towards net zero embedded within the SELCP Climate Change Strategy.

Options

Option 1 - Do nothing and continue to source all electric consumed at Horncastle Hub (over and above the current roof mounted PV) through competitive market procurement in the future – not recommended.

Option 2 - Implement only the ground mounted PV proposal and not the car port PV opportunity identified in the report – not recommended.

Option 3 – Implement both the ground mounted PV and car port PV scheme identified in the report – RECOMMENDED.

N.B.  Duncan Hollingworth, Group Manager (General Fund Assets) left the Meeting at 6.07pm.