Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The following declarations of interest were received:

The minutes of the meeting, held on 30 September 2024, were approved as an accurate record.

Officers provided the Committee with an update on the Regional Energy Strategy Delivery.

Members were informed that the Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPs) were the framework to deliver the Regional Energy Strategy and contain a series of local and regional actions. It was noted that Officers meet through a Regional Steering Group to coordinate the work relating to the LAEPs and other energy work streams.

It was explained that since the development of the LAEPs, Welsh Government had funded the appointment of a Regional Energy Team consisting of an Energy Project Manager plus two Energy Project Officer posts; those posts were funded for 24 months and were employed within Carmarthenshire Council. Officers highlighted that the detail pertaining to the progress of the Regional Energy Team was captured in Appendix A of the circulated report.

Reference was made to Appendices B, C and D of the circulated report, which contained updates on the individual priority schemes:

·        Project Outline of the South West Wales Solar Together Initiative (Appendix B)

·        Project Outline of the Behavioural Change Project (Appendix C)

·        Cross-boundary Sharing of Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Infrastructure Pilot between Local Authorities and wider Public Sector (Appendix D)

Officers stated that the Solar Together Initiative was aimed at homeowners with the sufficient funds to invest in upgrades for renewable power; this initiative required funding, which was approved at the recent meeting of the South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee (21 January 2025). The sums were noted to be £27.5k in the 2025/26 financial year and a smaller amount of £3k in the 2024/25 financial year to cover the costs of the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU).

It was mentioned that the procurement route was being managed through Carmarthenshire County Council as the lead for energy and a MOU was being developed to take this forward. Members were informed that a Market Engagement Prior Information Notice (PIN) was activated on 7 January 2025 to establish how many potential service providers of this type of scheme exist; the PIN would be closing within the next few days and following which, Officers would go through the responses before making a direct award.

Further to the above, Officers confirmed that there were ongoing discussions taking place with both legal and procurements teams in regard to the direction that would be taken moving forward; once this was determined, an agreement will be produced that will need to be signed jointly by the four Local Authorities across the region. It was noted that final sign-off was required by the end of April 2025; some of the activities that would follow this include purchases by the supplier in terms of marketing data and sending letters out to residents over a 12-week period in May 2025. Officers confirmed that there will also be a social media and website campaign in order to promote the scheme further. Following the marketing campaigns, it was highlighted that first installations were expected to take place between October 2025 and the first quarter in 2026; if the scheme  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Energy Sub Committee Forward Work Programme was noted.

Any urgent items at the discretion of the Chairperson pursuant to Section 100BA(6)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

There were no urgent items received.