Agenda item

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 was deemed to be successful, Officers would look into running it again in the future.

The Committee expressed the importance of collaboration between Local Authorities, social landlords and private sector industries in terms of the energy agenda; it was asked if this was being considered in the forward planning for the region. Officers explained that the LAEPs contained a range of actions pertaining to this workstream and discussions were taking place in regard to further prioritising those actions; part of this included meeting with colleagues from housing in each of the Local Authorities to gain their input. It was also highlighted that Officers were working alongside HAPS (Homes As Power Stations), whose key roles were to develop local supply chains and look into bulk purchasing for renewable technologies. Officers acknowledged the need for this work to be undertaken on a much larger scale and pace moving forward and noted that they would need the support and willingness from partners to be able to do this.

Reference was made to the Behavioural Change Project and the mechanisms that were in place for monitoring and evaluating the detail of this project. The Committee was informed that this particular project aimed to provide residents with access to good quality and impartial advice, in order to help them make the energy transition to net zero carbon; this would require employing additional capacity to the community energy groups across the region. In addition to energy advice, it was noted that the advisors would provide a free retrofit assessment and inform residents of what they should focus on and the benefits of making the change; as well as assistance with finding a supplier that the resident would feel comfortable with.  In terms of monitoring and evaluation, it was stated that a suitable evaluation matrix needed to be developed; Officers had some ideas of what areas would need to be monitored and evaluated and will also use the expertise and experience from the providers to help finalise this area of thinking.

A suggestion was made to hold Member Seminars in each individual authority across the region regarding ECO4 (an Energy Company Obligation and government scheme) as there needed to be further understanding of the Councils roles and responsibilities in this scheme and Solar PV in general. It was mentioned that there will be meetings with each Local Authority to ensure that as much information as possible is provided in regard to this scheme.

A discussion took place in regard to the Cross-Boundary EV Charging Pilot and the links with Public Service Boards (PSB). It was highlighted that Carmarthenshire Council were undertaking a piece of work relating to sharing depot facilities for EV charging; the findings of this could be informative to the Cross Boundary EV Charging Pilot. Members stated that not only was there potential for cross-boundary charging between Local Authorities, but also between many of the PSB partners; it would be important to make those connections and share any learning.