Agenda item

The Chair welcomed Lisa Willis and Oonagh Gavigan to the meeting.

Members were provided with a presentation on Homes as Power Stations, by the Project Manager, Oonagh Gavigan.

 

The project was approved by Welsh and UK Government in July 2021. It is a regional project led by Neath Port Talbot Council. The aim of the project is to facilitate the HAPS Approach. This is the integration of energy efficient design and renewable technologies in 10,300 new and existing homes.

 

The project has a number of key objectives. These include the adoption of the HAPS concept mainstream; to create smart/intelligent energy efficient homes; to reduce carbon emissions; to reduce fuel poverty; to improve heath & wellbeing; to create and support a skilled supply chair and the sharing of information/data to enable this to happen. To achieve the objectives there are several funding streams available, including the Financial Incentives fund which is £5.75m and the Supply Chain Development Fund which is £7m.

 

The project will work alongside the Skills & Talent programme to ensure that people have the necessary skills and training to provide confidence in the programme.

 

The project will procure an independent organisation to monitor and evaluate the different designs and technologies to ensure ongoing learning and evaluation of the programme. The budget for this is £1m. This will ensure a comprehensive and accurate set of data and results to inform the project as it progresses. Areas included in the evaluation include performance, environmental conditions, fuel costs and poverty, environmental behaviour, costs and health and wellbeing improvements. The information obtained will be shared through the open access knowledge hub.

 

Ms Gavigan went through the project pilot scheme development located in Neath. The scheme was one of the earliest projects, funded by Welsh Government innovative housing programme. It include a number of partners and created 16 homes to store and create solar energy.

 

The completion of the project was delayed until November 2020. Sero have been appointed to continue to collect data from systems and tenants.

 

Ms Gavigan gave an update on the overall project to date. The Project Manager has been appointed. Discussions have now begun with IT experts to determine how the data will be best shared and how a sharing hub will be created which will be accessible to interested parties. Currently a map of initiatives is being decided to add value and improve the HAPS concept. Officers are also currently mapping a supply chain to support applications to the supply chain development fund.

The next steps are to recruit the rest of the team and to establish and gain legal approval to disseminate the funding streams. The team will also commence the procurement of the monitoring and evaluation early next year.

 

Members queried where the funding in terms of private and public investment is currently at. From the public sector there is significant interest in the project. From the private sector, particularly small to medium enterprises, it is difficult to get them involved until they need to be, as they are often quite accountancy drive and costs will need to be driven down.

 

The monitoring and evaluation is a key part of the project and officers are keen to ensure there is a standardised process in place so that data can be compared across the south west region. There’s monitoring in terms of cost, use and carbon. Also, there is monitoring on the effect on people’s lives and other aspects across the region i.e. health.

 

The monitoring of the pilot project is currently being undertaken. As this is being done, the processes to collect data are being finely tuned to ensure that it captures the required data. This will be done across the four seasons of the year.

 

Members queried in terms of the knowledge transfer and intellectual property, is there an opportunity of any value being attached for the region and any opportunity for income to be derived from it? The supply chain development is a key strand. There are three keys in this – intelligent energy system, heat pumps and battery storage. The officers are working with various organisation to do this. It is important a good supply chair is established and this is a key point in the strategy to bring income into the region.

 

Member queried how many new jobs will be created, specifically apprentice roles? Officers acknowledged that the region, or indeed the UK does not have the skills required to develop the project at the pace that it needs to be developed. It is often difficult to recruit. The project are working with the colleges and universities to bridge the gap that is required.

 

Members queried if the estimate of jobs is solely for this development? Members expressed a cautious approach with regards to how many jobs are going to be attributed to the project. With regards to funding, if it is a standardised project Member expressed their concern that it could be a deterrent to the private and possibly public sector to invest.

 

A large part of the jobs will come from the development of the supply chain. A number of companies across the region have started to diversify and officers are considering how they can fit into the supply chain. Whilst they may not develop the overall end product, they may assist with the development of the various elements to achieve the end result.

 

Members asked for timelines and milestones to indicate progress on the project. Members also asked for a risk analysis in relation to anticipate problems and any mitigation taken in relation to this. Officers confirmed a risk analysis was part of the business case and this will be updated as required. Further, more in depth information will be provided to Members at the next update on the project.

 

Officers discussed sharing information and it was noted that it should not only be shared within the public sector but it is important that it is disseminated into the private sector also. This will ensure that the project grows at the speed that it needs to, in order to be successful.

 

Members queried if there was any remit to be involved in the processes prior to decisions being taken. Officers advised that this would be welcomed and they would await further information from the Committee in terms of what they wished to consider.

 

With regards to the 15 year time scale of the project, officers advised that much of the work would be attaching the developing technology to the construction. They were keen to ensure that the project was delivered within the outlined timescale.

 

Members thanked officers for attending the meeting.